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| Ngozi Nwosu-Juba |
Nigeria is the biggest
country in West Africa with diverse people and cultures. Nigeria’s Universal
Health Coverage is one of the many areas the country is working to keep pace
with leading countries in the world. The target of the National Health
Insurance Scheme was to provide universal coverage for all Nigerians by 2015.
Unfortunately this target has not been met. To close the existing gap in health
care for women and girls is therefore critical towards achieving Sustainable Development
Goals goal 3:7. Currently, only about 5%
of Nigerians have prepaid health care through the National Health Insurance
Scheme (NHIS). The large majority of Nigerians (95%) are without any form of
coverage. Among the 95% are women and
girls.
Nigeria has the third
highest infant mortality rate in the world and also the largest contributor to
global mortality rate. The rates are high not because the diseases leading to
death cannot be cured or prevented, Women, girls and children are dying from
preventable and treatable sexual health complications as a result of entrenched
resistance to women’s autonomy and control over their bodies. This is often
justified on the basis of culture and/or religion. Poor health care systems and
weak policy implementation add to women’s risk of death.
The recently released National
Demographic Health Survey (NDHS) 2018 data in the country states that unmet
need for family planning declined from 20% in 2008 to 16% in 2013 before
increasing to 19% in 2018. 10% of maternal deaths in Nigeria are due to unsafe
abortion. Access to safe abortion is restricted in Nigeria. A 2015 national
study of abortion incidence in Nigeria reveals the challenges that remain to
improve conditions for Nigerian women and girls. Only 16 percent of all women
of reproductive age use any contraceptive and an even lower percentage of 11
percent use a modern method, which results in almost 10 million unintended
pregnancies, of which more than half end in an induced abortion.
The slogan of leaving no
one behind CAN only be achieved if
government health plan target those most in need of it; women, girls and
children. There is need for universal access to quality and affordable
comprehensive sexual and reproductive health information, education, including
comprehensive sexuality education, and health services and ensuring that gender
is cross cutting on all issues relating to the coverage.
Central
to women and adolescents health and well-being is the realization of their
human rights, including their sexual and reproductive rights. To achieve
Sustainable Development Goals and Universal Health Coverage, special attention must
be paid to women, children and adolescents and their health needs. Efforts must
made to remove obstacles such as negative laws that restrict choice; women and
girls must take charge and ownership in health care delivery.
As Nigeria joins other
African nations and indeed the world at the United Nations high-level Meeting
on universal health coverage in September 2019, it has a critical role of
ensuring that it invests substantially into the health Scheme by partnering
with private sector and civil society groups.
The Second National Strategic Health Development Plan which is the
country’s road map through its five strategic pillars and 15 priority areas
must focus on bridging the existing health care gap for women and girls. Government’s
1% funds allocation tagged ‘Basic health care provisions Fund’ must target the
unmet needs on SRHR for women and girls. Political will is required to achieve
the implementation of health commitments which must benefit women and girls
whose health needs remain unmet.
The
Universal Health Coverage Must Count for Women and Girls.
Ngozi Nwosu-Juba
Project Director
08031999612
Vision Spring Initiatives, Lagos
Nigeria and Steering Committee Member CSO League, Africa.
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