2019: Nigeria needs increased health budget

Nigeria needs an increase in health budget to stem rising cases of deaths.

Nigeria has allocated only 2.9 percent of its total budget on health in the last three years, as against South Africa’s 13 to 15 percent over the same period.

Budget allocations to the health sector in the last three years represent just 0.2 percent, 0.02 percent and 0.2 percent respectively of the gross domestic product (GDP), assuming modestly that Nigeria’s GDP stands at $420 billion.

“The World Health Organisation has a standard benchmark that should be followed by developing countries with high rates of diseases. Compare that ratio with what we have in Nigeria and you will see why we still struggle with health issues,” Okey Akpa, chairman of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), told BusinessDay on the phone.

“This is a global benchmark that is a product of research,” Akpa added.

Larne Yusuf, a Lagos-based general practitioner based, told BusinessDay in an earlier interview that government must plan more for the sector as low health budget in the face of outbreaks means crisis.

The WHO puts standard health budget allocations at 26 percent, especially for developing countries.

Nigeria has demography of 198 million, which presents a market opportunity but also a health burden on the government. The 2017 was marred by outbreaks of diseases such Lassa fever, which occurred in 718 cases wherein 68 persons died. Between January and July 2018, there have been 115 deaths in confirmed cases and 10 in probable cases. Cerebrospinal meningitis was suspected in 14,518 cases, across 181 local government councils, with 1,166 people reported death. Other outbreaks of include monkey pox and cholera. Cancer is responsible for the deaths of 72,000 Nigerians yearly, according to Wellbeing Foundation Africa (WBFA)’s 2019 research.

Doyin Odubanjo, chairman, Association of Public Health Physicians of Nigeria, Lagos Chapter, said  disease outbreaks cannot be predicted but get worse when a country fails to address prevention issues squarely.

ODINAKA ANUDU