Category Archives: Health
Nigeria: NHIS seeks more funds to attain universal health coverage
The Acting Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Dr AbdulRahman Sambo, said inadequate funding was needed to attain universal health coverage in the country.
Sambo told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Sunday that there was the need for special funds to take care of the health needs of vulnerable persons in the country.
He said the scheme had developed key elements to achieving universal health insurance through compulsion for those who could afford health care and subsidy payment.
The subsidy payment, he explained, would ensure that the indigent were taken care of from some of the contributions of those who could afford to pay.
“The major challenge that we have is our law, which makes participation under the health insurance scheme optional, voluntary; number two, the non-logging in of the programmes of the NHIS by states and local governments; these are the two major that has been impeding the NHIS in attaining universal coverage.
“One other major thing that has been clearly defined by us and other stakeholders is the absence of a fund that will provide contribution or pay for the contribution of the vulnerable, the poor, the indigent and those with some forms of disease vulnerability.
“We have identified two key elements that are required to ensure universal coverage, and those elements are compulsion – compelling individuals who have the means to pay for their contribution to do so.
“The second one is the touchy issue of subsidy, we believe that there have to be some subsidy payments for those who can’t afford to make their own contributions.”
Sambo said the NHIS currently covers only 7.5 million Nigerians, adding that the law establishing the scheme was being amended by the National Assembly.
He said it was also important for Nigerians to change their mentality on the notion of health insurance as the advantages out-weighed the disadvantages.
“We currently have covered about 7.5 million persons; the NHIS law is going through amendment in the National Assembly and the amendment will strictly look at making it compulsory and identifying some form of financing mechanism or options to give cover to the poor and the indigent in the society.
“We are going round the country sensitising people, paying advocacy to states governors and local government chairmen, to political leaders, traditional leaders, religious leaders, across the country.
“We are partnering with the media because without the media we cannot be able to reach out to Nigerians; we need to educate Nigerians on the value of health insurance which is a cultural shift.
“Culturally, Nigerians wouldn’t want to pay in advance for their health care; this notion that doing so may connote one’s wish of being ill; this is common in quite a number of cultures across the country.
“People say it is not my portion to get sick. Some think health insurance or insurance in general is against their faith; those are some of the little challenges that we are facing.’’
The acting executive secretary said NHIS was also partnering with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to reposition the scheme, adding that continuous sensitisation would go a long way to improve the health status of Nigerians.
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“The scheme is being redesigned to ensure that it is well structured to attain universal coverage.
“We are consulting with the International Finance Corporation (IFC); we are actually partnering with the IFC.
“We have engaged the services of a company to look at the NHIS; examine the scheme in four broad areas, policy, regulation and legal framework; that is one area.
“The second area is the business processes of the NHIS; the third area is finance and funding requirement needed to attain universal coverage, and fourthly the IT platform that will be required to move the process forward.
“Sensitisation and advocacy of ordinary Nigerians is a big issue, and that is why we are going round sensitising our partners to assist the scheme in reaching out to Nigerians; let them know the value of health insurance as it’s being done in other countries of the world.
“We have seen countries that are less endowed than Nigeria being able to attain universal coverage within a very short time, largely arising from the political will and commitment of government at various levels in those particular countries to ensure that their citizens are covered.
“This is what we hope to see happen in this country; it’s difficult but it is not impossible. With the support of each person, and those of all stakeholders, we are certain that universal health coverage for Nigerians will be a reality.
Diarrhoea: NAFDAC DG laments infant mortality
MAKURDI— The Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, Dr. Paul Orhii, yesterday, lamented that over 194,000 Nigerian children under the age of five die annually as a result of diarrhoea.
He warned that the alarming figure was a wake-up call to Nigerian mothers to ensure that their babies were properly breast-fed in their formative years in order to avert avoidable deaths among children in the country.
Orhii stated this in Makurdi in a paper he presented at the 2013 World Breastfeeding year, entitled, ‘An Overview of the International/National Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes.’
He said, “according to figures recently released by the United Nations Children Fund, UNICEF, about 194, 000 children under five die annually as a result of diarrhoea in Nigeria.
“And since this can be averted when children are properly breast-fed for two years because it helps them develop immunity against such diseases, it becomes even more imperative that I urge mothers to ensure that their babies are breast-fed properly.
“Moreover, it has been scientifically proven that there is nothing that equals breast-feeding in proper nourishment for infants.
“Breast milk has the additional advantage of containing anti-bodies that protect the baby against many common childhood illnesses.
“It is always in the right temperature. Costs nothing and nearly every mother has more than enough for her baby. It also protects the mother’s health by preventing bleeding, enables the uterus to return to normal size after delivery and prevents general and breast cancers.”
In her speech, wife of the Benue state Governor, Arc Mrs. Yemisi Suswam, represented by the Managing Director of the Lower Benue River Basin Development Authority, Mrs Ada Chenge, enjoined mothers to take the issue of breastfeeding as a priority in order to safeguard the health of their children, mothers and the state in general.
Medical Experts worry over imminent Tsunami of non communicable disorders in Nigeria
A group of medical experts has called for adoption of scientific control and prevention strategies to stem what they described as the imminent “tsunami” of Non Communicable Disorders, NCDs, such as high blood pressure, stroke, cancer, diabetes, renal failure and other chronic diseases that are of increasingly public health significance in Nigeria.
Speaking during the 6th Cardiovascular Summit – an annual scientific symposium aimed at updating clinicians on the recent trends in management of cardiovascular diseases, renowed endocrinologist at the University of Tennessee Health Centre, Memphis, USA, Professor Sam Dagogo-Jack urged the nation to separate fact from fiction when dealing with issues surrounding CV disorders.
“We must increasingly adopt scientific methods, which is a separation from the metaphorical approach. When we are talking about a silent killer that needs to be detected before it can actually be treated, a killer that is right at the centre whether or not we believe in the orientation, let us go into the aspect of scientific explanations,” Dagogo-Jack, who was Guest Speaker at the event asserted.
Arguing that many people could drop dead from heart attacks, while not being aware of the source of heart problems, he regretted that the ravages of hypertension and diabetes can be seen daily on the faces of Nigerians who have suffered a stroke or heart failure or developed kidney failure or lost a leg in amputation.
“We are dealing with a set of conditions called silent killers, that is, they do not announce they are coming and establish their presence by a set of complications and by then it may be too late.
Drawing attention to the ravages of hypertension, heart disease and diabetes, heart failure, stroke that cripple or kill people and cost the nation billions in lost productivity, Dagogo-Jack observed that the “silent killers” need no expensive gadget,or methodology.
“Blood pressure can be easily measured outside the laboratory with a simple gadget, you just pump it up and get a reading. So why should society have less than one third of the people without their blood pressure recognized, and less than a third of those recognised is treated at all, and less than a third of those recognised controlled? It’s a question of priority.”
Chairman of the Pfizer Cardiovascular Scientific Advisory Board,Emeritus professor of Medicine at the University of Ibadan in Oyo State, Nigeria, Professor Oladapo Akinkugbe, remarked that less than a third of Nigerians who are hypertensive are aware of their status.
“Of those that are aware, less than a third is on teatment, and of those on treatment, less than a third is being adequately monitored. So we can see that just a small fraction of patients are adequately catered for. We can say the same for diabetes and cardiac events.
“We need to take preventive measures. The average man on the street should know about the risk factors for these disorders. One of the things we could do is sensitise government to look set targets and tie then to the Vision 202020. By then, we would expect to have reduced cardio vascular disorders by a certain percentage. That is an achievable goal, even if we acheieve only half, at least it is measurable,” he argued.
The event was put together by Pfizer Nigeria, Ghana and East Africa Region, NEAR, was a platform for healthcare experts from across the globe to advance medical knowledge and patient care on the nature, diagnosis and management of CVDs in Nigeria.
8 sleeping positions and their effects on health
Mothers: Breast feed your baby not your man
While breast feeding your baby, you tend to hold the baby and there is no more comforting feeling for an infant of any age than being held close and cuddled while being breastfed. Many premature babies are more likely to die if they are not held or stroked.
Breast milk has been established as a unique nutritional source that cannot adequately be replaced by any other food.
Alas, it is like so many Nigerian mothers seem to have forgotten the real essence of breast feeding which is as old as the existence of man himself.
Going by recent findings, exclusive breast feeding rate in Nigeria has fallen as to as low as 15 percent.
Many mothers are said to have chosen to keep their breast for their man than their baby who needs it for survival. Some claimed that breast feeding their babies will affect the shape of their breasts and may no longer be attractive to their man. Studies also show that breast feeding has nothing to do with the breast sagging. It has also been proven that whether a woman breast feeds or not, whether a woman gets pregnant or not, a time shall come in the woman’s life when her breasts will become slack due to ageing.
Between the baby and father, who actually needs this breast? There are hard facts that the man only use the breast as an object of romance, unlike the baby who utilises the breast for survival.
Evidence abounds that breast milk itself is the gold in infant nutrition for a newborn as it possesses anti-infective properties that help to protect infants against diseases. Breastfeeding has been declared an unequaled way of providing ideal food for the health, growth and the development of infants as well as been a unique biological and emotional basis for the health of both mother and child.
Studies have shown that women who were formula-fed as infants have higher rates of breast cancer as adults.
For both premenopausal and postmenopausal breast cancer, women who were breastfed as children, even if only for a short time, had a 25 percent lower risk of developing breast cancer than women.
Again, not breast feeding increases risk of cancer in women. But if all women who do not breastfeed or who breastfeed for less than three months were to do so for 4 to 12 months, breast cancer among parous premenopausal women could be reduced by 11 percent, judging from current rates. This reduction would be even greater among women who first lactate at an early age.
Studies indicate that breastfeeding helps improve mothers’ health, as well as their children’s.
A woman grows both physically and emotionally from the relationship she forms with her baby. Just as a woman’s breast milk is designed specifically to nourish the body of an infant, the production and delivery of this milk aids her own health.
For example, breastfeeding helps a woman to lose weight after birth. It releases a hormone (oxytocin) that causes the uterus to return to its normal size more quickly.
When a woman gives birth and proceeds to nurse her baby, she protects herself from pregnancy again too soon, a form of birth control found to be 98 percent. Breastfeeding reduces the mother’s risk of osteoporosis in later years.
Diabetic women improve their health by breastfeeding. Women who lactate for two or more years reduce chances of developing breast cancer by 24 percent.
Fertility forecast: Baby bust is over; births will rise
Child Suffers From Itchy Scale Skin With Fish-Like Scale As Skin (PHOTO)
Nigeria: Let insurance carry your risk
Insurance is the transfer of risk from people exposed to risks to professional risk carriers, which are the insurance companies. Every one of us is exposed to one risk or the other because life is full of risks and all these risks can be identified, quantified and reduced to monetary terms.
So when risks materialise, they lead to financial losses, and if risks are not managed in a scientific manner, it could ruin anybody, any business, any nation, and any economy. That is why all over the world people have come to accept that the best way to handle risk is by way of insurance transfer mechanism, which is when the individual or the company exposed to risks decides to insure against such risks of life. In life, there are risks associated with business and all endeavors, and the cost of transferring the risk to a risk bearer is the premium that people pay.
The risk bearers
The risk bearers are the insurance firms of different sizes and makes, although, some insurance companies have some specialisation. These insurers assure that if the risk you have transferred materialises or results to a loss, they will come out to put you back on your feet by way of compensation to that position where you were before you lost support.
Insurance is different
Insurance is different from the Esusu, which is the local traditional insurance that entails that we have the spirit of being our brother’s keeper, so that when something goes wrong all of us will rally round and contribute money to help. The way insurance works is such that a homogenous group that is exposed to same type of risks are put together with the understanding that it is not in all cases that all of them will suffer a loss. but by the theory and science of probability, insurance operators have been able to calculate to arrive at the average number within that homogenous group that will suffer a loss, and from the contributions of every member that make up that pool, insurance can compensate the few of them that have suffered a loss. So from the pool of fund, insurance can build up reserves and make investments because the group will keep enlarging and keep expanding.
Sometimes skeptics come to say ‘You pay premium of N10 and if anything goes wrong insurance will pay you N1000, is that not gambling?’ No, it is not gambling but scientific and it is based on the law of large numbers. The number must be relatively large because if it is large the pool of fund will be huge and insurers can always pay handsomely to compensate anybody who suffers a loss. That is the way insurance operates.
Poor perception of insurance
The poor insurance perception in the country has to do with the literacy level to a great extent. What is the level of education and knowledge that people have? That is why the insurance industry will need to do a lot more in educating the Nigerian public. Even the so called elites hardly can appreciate how insurance works or the benefits. This may be peculiar to our environment because when some of these elites travel abroad, they comply with insurance requirements.
Poverty could also be a factor but cannot be a tenable excuse because the poorest class would be the ones that need insurance most. This is due to the fact that should anything happen to them or should they suffer loss, the chances of their recovery are slim. That is if they will ever recover. But if they have insurance their hopes are high. In essence, from
whatever income you earn, there must be a planned pattern of managing and spending, and such plans must include a level of saving from which you can always do some investment or do so many things. It is not ideal that somebody will be waiting for manner from heaven or until he can access loan or facility from the bank or a finance house before he could start a business or any venture. So for emergencies, there must be a reserve. Hence, poverty shouldn’t be an excuse rather we should be preaching to people to get better organised and be operating a plan in whatever they do.
Cultivate the habit of savings
If you can cultivate the habit of savings, it will help you in life. Insurance, which is a way of savings, is there for you too. Through insurance you can save for the future and for the training of your children (education insurance). The general public should shun the apathy towards insurance. It is one of those services in modern times that can always provide a relief or a solution to some of our problems.
Within the African continent, Nigeria cannot be seen as a country of the poorest set of people. How come that insurance penetration or awareness in some African states are a lot better than Nigeria? It is only because of our mindset here and not due to poverty, so we should de-emphasise poverty.
An improved insurance sector
In recent times a lot of efforts are being put by insurance operators into widening micro insurance penetration. That is, conscious efforts to spread insurance to the grassroots, the people on the streets, the market people, the artisans, and so on. People are being grouped into corporative societies and credit facilities are being offered to buy some of the equipment’s they needed for their trade and such equipment’s are being brought back
to insurance firms providing the facilities to give insurance covers. It’s quite attractive, and is really gaining ground in the East, Lagos and Ondo States as well as in Abuja. It is not that the insurance sector has started promotion, where people are told to buy this and get that, no. Rather, it is sorts of suasion whereby you make people appreciate insurance.
If you go to the banks, you cannot get credit facility with ease. But insurance firms are coming up to say, we can offer you these, we can be partners in your business and you will get added protection by coming back to buy insurance, and you are secured.
Two, a lot of efforts are also being put into product development that will really address our cultural values. For example, when our aged people die, we spend a lot on funeral rites. However, insurance has developed products that are being packaged to cater for funeral expenses. Also, it is common knowledge that we value the best education for our children, so a number of policies are there to take care of our children’s education. But at the same time, the prospective buyers should begin to have a change of mind by addressing priorities that could be rewarding to their lives and families in their budget planning.
Insurance has done quite a lot by making the products attractive and bringing added values that will attract the public. But the public reserve the right and decision to say “I want to buy it”, and one of the things they could do is to reorder their priorities. They need to reorder their priorities and cultivate the habit of savings and believe in the protection of their assets. Its high time that
we begin to get our priorities right and appreciate the value of insurance.
Nigerians deserve proper medical diagnosis before treatment – Dr. Abiola Ajayi
For about five days beginning Friday last week, all roads led to the ROA Hospital & Surgical Centre, a comprehensive health care facility located on Arepo Road, off Lagos- Ibadan expressway, in Ogun State, where a “medical mission” was in session.
From dawn till dusk, the health facility was agog as scores of men, women and children from different parts of Lagos and Ogun States, thronged the premises to benefit from the high quality healthcare services offered by the hospital.
Numerous procedures ranging from routine and non-emergency medical procedures such as malaria fever and abdominal disorders to those requiring more intensive attention and even surgeries, were carried out by a team of local and internationally-certified doctors, nurses and other healthcare providers.
There were repairs of hernias and clavicle fractures. Complications such as prostatectomies, as well as other laparoscopic and endoscopic surgeries were taken care of, in addition to a wide range of complaints from all those who were open to recieve the medical service. All the high-level interventions were carried out at highly subsidized rates.
Access to care
Essentially, the medical mission was targeted at people who have no direct access good medical care because they do not have the financial means to consult qualified doctors.
“The medical mission is designed to bring standard medical care to those in need, and those who otherwise would not be able to see competent medical experts. The main reason this hospital is open is because it is trying to give back to the people,” said Dr. Abiola Ajayi, Managing Director at ROA Hospital & Surgical Centre/Clinic.
Ajayi, who is also CEO, Rexonike Ventures and an expert in medical and information technology, spoke shortly after he emerged from the surgical theatre after the completion one of the surgical procedures earmarked for the medical mission, stressed that too many Nigerians lacked access to adequate medical care.
“The hospital is trying to give back to the people. We started this because a lot of people engage in medical tourism, leaving Nigeria to get substandard treatment in other countries, but even though they sometimes get good treatment, it is unfortunate for a rich country suc as Nigeria to be in this position,” he said.
An expert in General Medicine, Ajayi, who trained at the Kent State University and Northeastern Ohio Universities, College of Medicine, remarked that the medical mission has become neccesary to enable every Nigerian get access to affordable, comprehensive medical service.
American standards
“So, we decided to bring to the people what we know of the American health standard. Our Chairman, Dr. Rex Ajayi, is a practising urologist in the United States of America for 30 years, He is my father, and it was his vision to create a standard hospital in Nigeria where everything done in the United States of America can be done here. Since I’ve been here, I have tried to make that dream happen.”
Although the first medical mission held last year, the Centre has had good outcomes in the numerous intensive care surgeries carried out since inception in 2007.
“Over the course of this year’s medical mission and in conjunction with an eye centre in Ibadan, the ROA health Centre is conducting special eye and general health checkups as well as treatment. Surgeries just like the one I just came out of now would normally cost N75, 000, but the patient barely paid N5,000. For a prostatectomy that would normally cost N230, 000, the patient spent about N25,000.’
Continuing, the Medical Director noted: We see many cases that have been around for long, these people have gone around looking for help, but have been unable to afford treatment found someone able to diagnose their condition.
Consultancy
The facility has few limitations. “There is a wide range of consultants from general surgery to urology, gynecologists and there really isn’t much we cannot handle. There is a pharmacy, and in-house laboratory.
“We do not make referrals because we have brought in consultants that can handle the referrals. In the future, we hope to begin training in endoscopic and laparoscopic surgery.
“Here, services cost far less than in public or private hospitals. The costs are subsidised by as much as 90 percent during the mission. All the consultations are free. As a patient, you’re paying far less. Daily, during the mission, no less than 100 patients were accommodated in addition to 10 surgeries depending on the severity of cases.
There are five operating theatres, and a mixture of expertise comprising Nigerians trained abroad and in Nigeria, as well as some Americans. At last year’s mission, 14 expatriates – 10 from the US and other countries – were in attendance.
Expertise & need
“I have only just started promoting this place and already we have a large turn out. There is a great need for good health services for Nigerians who are desirous of expertise and surgery and other forms of treatment.”
“Here, the average Nigerian doesn’t have health insurance like they do in the United States where insurance covers most of the medical costs, but that is not to take anything away from Nigeria. Even in the US, a lot of primary care and a lot of Nigerians are practicing there. We have the knowledge, we just don’t have the resources at the common level.
“We have a mixture of Western and spiritual medicine. We do go for a lot of home remedies, but I will say that those home remedies, spiritual remedies that sometimes don’t make sense. Effort should be made to get proper diagnosis before you start treating ailments.”