The World Health Organisation, WHO, has intensified the need for more revenue collection towards the provision of Universal Health Coverage for all Nigerians and to ease out-of-pocket expenditures for health-seeking Nigerians.
The global health body indicated that 60% of the Nigerian population account for the country’s total health expenditure as many from the low income cadre continue to pay for health services out of pocket, further impoverishing them.
The Technical Officer, Health Financing and Public-Private Partnerships Universal Health Coverage at the WHO, Dr. Francis Ukwuije, noted that citizens invest huge sums of their daily income to pay for unpredictable health bills.
Ukwuije raised the concerns at a seminar organised by the Association of Nigerian Health Journalists to dialogue and seek solutions to issues in the sector.
He stressed that raising sufficient and sustainable revenue sources is essential for guaranteeing efficient and equitable access to achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) for all.
Dr Ukwuije noted that the contributions of healthy and wealthier people through the health insurance scheme subsidize healthcare for unhealthy poorer people.
He said, “Goal 3 and Target 3.8 of the SDGs, seeks to ensure that all people have access to the needed key promotive, preventive, curative and rehabilitative health services of good quality at an affordable cost without the risk of financial hardship linked to paying for care.
”Health financing is concerned with the mobilization, accumulation, allocation, and utilization of resources to help countries make progress towards objectives such as UHC.
”The amount of money spent on health matters but where the money comes from and how financing is structured is also important.”
