To commemorate the 2024 Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Day, the Nigeria UHC Forum, in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (FMoH&SW), with support from the USAID Local Health System Sustainability (LHSS) Project and PharmAccess Foundation organized a roundtable event to forge a consensus on sustained prioritization of UHC in Nigeria.
A cross-section of participants at the 2024 UHC Day Commemoration Roundtable
The UHC Day commemoration roundtable, which held on Friday, 13th of December, 2024 themed “Health: it’s on the Government” brought together a wide array of stakeholders in the health sector to reflect on Nigeria’s UHC quest, identify challenges, and propose solutions. These stakeholders include government MDAs, donors/partners, CSOs, Media, private sectors, among others. The event was heralded with a welcome address by Chief Mrs. Moji Makanjuola, the Chair of the Nigeria UHC Forum, reiterating the need for a holistic, sustainable, accountable and transparent approach towards the attainment of UHC. An opening remark was presented by the Special Adviser to the President on Health, Dr Salma Ibrahim Anas represented by Dr Umar Tanko Yakasai.
Dr Kelechi Ohiri, the Director-General of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) set the stage with a keynote presentation on the bedrock of NHIA’s journey by highlighting the progress so far in repositioning the country’s health insurance landscape to expand coverage and access to healthcare. The Director General highlighted the NHIA’s new strategic vision and how the Nigeria UHC Forum is pivotal in the achievement recorded so far. Notably, a significant health insurance coverage expansion has been recorded from 16.7 million enrollees in 2023 to 19.2 million enrollees as at the third quarter of 2024, translating to an additional 2.5 million coverage within a year of progressive reforms, outperforming the 2024 coverage target of 20% from a baseline of 7% in 2023 and achieving 95% of the 2027 presidential target.
A technical presentation delivered by Dr Olumide Okunola, a Senior Health Economist at the World Bank emphasized the need for a ‘tectonic’ shift in the country’s approach to health financing as health should be on the government and not on the house. He urged the stakeholders, especially the Nigeria UHC Forum to take advantage of the ongoing fiscal reform debate in order to transform the revenue generation profile of the government, which will expand fiscal space for improving health financing and development financing at large. Thereafter, Dr. Njide Ndili the Country Director of PharmAccess shared a success story highlighting the transformation in the quality of care at the Federal Medical Centre, Ebute Metta.
The panel discussion titled ‘’Breaking the barriers and harnessing potentials to actualize Nigeria’s UHC quest’’ moderated by Dayyabu Yusuf of Society for Family Health featured the Hon Commissioners of Health from Yobe and Nasarawa states, Dr Muhammad Lawan Gana and Dr Gaza Gwamna respectively, The Chairman of States Health Insurance CEOs Forum Dr Simon Onyemaechi, Country Director of PharmAccess Dr Njide Ndili, Chief of Party USAID-LHSS Dr Bolanle Olusola-Faleye and the Co-convener of the Nigeria UHC Forum, Dr Gafar Alawode.
A cross-section of panelists during the panel discussion session
During the panel session, the Commissioners of Health from Yobe and Nasarawa states emphasized the importance of political support, continuous stakeholders’ engagement and accountability and how it has translated to improved health indices and expanded health insurance coverage to the poor and vulnerable residents in their states. Dr Bolanle Olusola-Faleye expounded on the innovative options for health financing identified from the fiscal space analysis for the vulnerable group fund conducted by DGI Consult. These innovative sources include but are not limited to taxes on alcohol, tobacco and sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), telecom taxes, diaspora remittances, and special intervention funds, amongst other sources. Dr Simon Onyemaechi highlighted how the Forum of State Health Insurance Agencies CEOs adopts best practices through peer review and learning on a quarterly basis to accelerate progress towards expanding health insurance coverage at the sub-national level. Dr Njide shared potential approaches for replicating the quality-of-care intervention in FMC Ebute Metta to other public facilities in Nigeria, while Dr Gafar Alawode unveiled the plan of the Nigeria UHC Forum to track the service coverage index and financial protection at the sub-national level in Nigeria to measure UHC progress in Nigeria objectively.
The Nigeria UHC Forum inaugurated three committees, namely the innovative financing committee, the facility standards committee and the UHC monitoring group, to ensure the effective mobilization of resources from innovative sources, replicate best practices in terms of facility standards and put in place a robust mechanism for tracking UHC progress using internationally recognized indicators. The roundtable ended with a press briefing and the launching of the official website of the Nigeria UHC Forum.
The Nigeria UHC Forum took advantage of the reflective moments of the 2024 UHC Day commemoration roundtable to deliberate on policies and initiatives to sustain the gains recorded in certain areas in some states and replicate the best practices that led to these successes while tracking the progress of UHC through the newly inaugurated committees.