The Federal Government is seeking to strengthen accountability in health financing by ensuring that increased public spending on healthcare produces measurable improvements in access, quality of services and patient outcomes.
The move comes as policymakers, researchers and health-sector experts gather in Abuja for the inaugural Nigeria Health Financing Research and Learning Forum, which begins today.
The two-day forum is expected to examine how research, health data and evidence can be used to guide decisions on healthcare financing, including which treatments should receive funding, how providers are remunerated and where limited resources can produce the greatest health benefits.
The push for greater value from health spending comes amid increased government investment and rising health insurance coverage, although households continue to bear a substantial portion of healthcare costs directly.
Health insurance enrolment has now exceeded 23 million, while the Federal Government has released about N235 billion through the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund over the past three years.
The developments have heightened the need for policymakers to establish whether increased funding is translating into better healthcare access, improved service quality and stronger financial protection for Nigerians.
The forum, themed “Evidence and Learning for Nigeria’s Health Financing Future: Building a Locally Led Research and Learning Ecosystem,” forms part of the wider health-sector reform agenda being implemented by the Federal Government.
The reforms are being coordinated by the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare under the Minister, Professor Muhammad Ali Pate, with emphasis on expanding healthcare access, strengthening financial protection and improving the value derived from public investment.
Participants at the forum are expected to include policymakers, researchers, healthcare practitioners and health financing specialists from Nigeria and other countries.
A central issue will be how evidence can be used to determine whether particular medicines, treatments and health interventions provide sufficient benefits to justify their costs, particularly at a time when both government and households face financial constraints.
The National Health Insurance Authority has already begun using Health Technology Assessment to support such decisions.
HTA provides a framework for evaluating the clinical and economic value of medicines, treatments and other healthcare interventions before public resources are committed.
The NHIA has conducted assessments covering kidney replacement therapy, colorectal cancer screening and treatment for advanced liver cancer.
The forum is expected to build on those efforts by identifying gaps in available health research and strengthening the link between research findings, financing decisions and actual outcomes experienced by patients.
The organisers said the objective was not simply to generate more research but to develop a stronger system through which evidence produced in Nigeria can directly influence policy and resource allocation.
The forum is being convened through a partnership involving the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, NHIA, Health Strategy and Delivery Foundation, Nigeria Health Watch and the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research.
Among those expected to participate are the NHIA Director-General and Chief Executive Officer, Dr Kelechi Ohiri; Canada Research Chair in Health Economics at the University of Manitoba, Professor John Ataguba; Ghanaian health economist, Professor Justice Nonvignon; Professor Chima Ariel Onoka of the University of Nigeria; and Ethiopian health-financing specialist, Dr Girmaye Dinsa.
Other participants include Dr Kheya Furtado of the Goa Institute of Management in India, HSDF Managing Principal and health economist Dr Yewande Ogundeji, and NHIA Director of Planning, Research and Statistics, Dr Kurfi Abubakar Muhammad.
The discussions are expected to focus on developing a locally driven research and learning ecosystem that can generate practical evidence for Nigeria’s healthcare financing decisions.
The organisers said the broader objective was to make health financing decisions increasingly evidence-based and ensure that public resources are linked to tangible improvements in healthcare access, service quality, financial protection and patient outcomes.
