Healthcare stakeholders have called for urgent reforms to strengthen quality, affordability, and equity in Nigeria’s healthcare delivery system.
They warned that millions of Nigerians remain at risk due to slow implementation of essential health policies and high out-of-pocket expenditure.
The call was made during a webinar on Thursday marking Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Day 2025 High-Level Convening.
Themed “Unaffordable Health Costs? We’re Sick of It”, the 2025 UHC Day High-Level Convening was organized by the Nigeria UHC Forum in collaboration with the PharmAccess Foundation.
The event brought together national and sub-national leaders, policymakers, health financing experts, development partners, civil society representatives, and implementing organizations to promote equitable, high-quality, and financially accessible healthcare for all Nigerians.
The convening focused on reducing financial hardship and strengthening domestic healthcare financing.
At the stakeholder engagement, Dr. Njide Ndili, President of the Healthcare Federation of Nigeria, said that unaffordable healthcare costs and inequities had pushed many families into poverty.
Ndili emphasized that quality is the cornerstone of UHC and commended the Coordinating Minister of Health, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, for prioritizing health reforms. She stressed that real impact depends on frontline implementation across institutions and local governments.
“Today is about showcasing what is already working, learning from it, and scaling it,” she said.
She urged Nigeria to accelerate efforts to meet the global UHC target of 2030, calling for collaboration among governments, the private sector, civil society, and development partners.
Dr. Funke Fasawe, Country Director of the Clinton Health Access Initiative, said citizens’ access to healthcare should not depend on their purchasing power.
“Too many people are dying because they have to pay out of pocket for even the most basic services,” she said, calling for stronger policy implementation and citizen-driven accountability.
“No Nigerian should die because he lacks the resources to pay for care,” she added, reaffirming her organizations commitment to supporting government efforts to expand equitable healthcare access.
Dr. Saheed Ogunme, Chief Medical Director of the Federal Medical Centre, Ebute-Meta, Lagos State, said healthcare providers witness daily the devastating effects of unaffordable care on patients.
He noted that hospitals often absorb financial losses that threaten sustainability.
“We see daily the challenges of patients who cannot afford care, and it is disheartening. Hospitals lose money, and it affects our bottom line.
“Nigeria must decide whether to adopt a tax-funded system like the UK’s NHS or an insurance-driven model like in the United States,” he said, urging policymakers to adopt a clear, sustainable approach that ensures no citizen is denied essential care due to cost.
In a video clip played during the event, Prof. Pate highlighted the Federal Government’s ongoing initiatives to enhance access to quality healthcare through collaborations with SafeCare and Access, emphasizing governance, efficiency, and digital transformation.
“As a project, we work with various state governments and non-junior tertiary hospitals through the Summit Committee we created two years ago.
“SafeCare has been instrumental in setting ethical standards, accrediting services, and enhancing the capacity of our health system to focus on quality improvement,” he said.
Under the Health Sector Rural Investment Initiative, the ministry is focusing on three pillars: governance to improve responsiveness and accountability, prioritizing effective and affordable services, and reducing rural healthcare disparities.
“We are beginning to see improvements, although we are not there yet. Quality is about using resources efficiently. Poor-quality care is wasteful.
“The resilience of our health system will be enhanced if we move toward overall quality improvement, and partners like SafeCare are contributing to this direction,” he added.
Digital transformation was also highlighted as a critical enabler for system-wide quality improvement.
All speakers agreed that Nigeria must urgently move beyond discussions to concrete implementation that improves service quality, reduces out-of-pocket spending, and expands access for underserved populations.
They expressed optimism that 2026 could mark a turning point in Nigeria’s journey toward UHC if stakeholders commit to coordinated, evidence-driven reforms.
Participants at the event included state and national health policymakers, health insurance agencies, development partners, public health leaders, researchers, civil society members, media professionals, private-sector health leaders, and champions of quality care and health financing.
