Blog 2: Nigeria

Hello everyone and welcome to my second blog!

Now that I have established my goal to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all ages, we can continue the research of different countries and see where they stand when it comes specifically to SDG 3. The country that I am focusing on this week is Nigeria. Nigeria is located in western Africa, bordering the Gulf of Guinea between Benin and Cameroon (CIA, 2018). This country has a population of 203 million with a life expectancy of 57 for males and 61 for females (CIA, 2018). The life expectancy rate of this country is fairly low and are ranked 211 compared to the world. There are clearly some issues needed to be fixed, for the life expectancy is a key indicator on possible health issues.

According to the World Health Organization, Nigeria is fighting high maternal mortality. The CIA reports that the maternal mortality rate in Nigeria is 814/100,000 live births making it the number 4^th country compared to the world (CIA, 2018). Nigeria accounts for “approximately 58,000 maternal deaths, accounting for 19% globally,” (WHO, 2017). The mortality rate for children under the age of 5 is 69/100,000 live births (WHO,2017). The World Health Organization along with other foundations are helping to incorporate a maternal and newborn quality of care initiative (QOC). QOC will help “improve the capacity of health workers to provide efficient-based interventions to pregnant women,” (WHO, 2017). The target for SDG 3 is to reduce the global maternity mortality to less than 70/1000,000 by 2030 and in order to try and achieve this goal, Nigeria needs to reduce their maternal mortality rate by 7.5% every single year (WHO,2017). Nigeria is currently addressing the high mortality rates, for it is a priority to lower the numbers in order to improve their nation and stay on track to achieve all SDG.

According to the CDC, Nigeria’s top five causes of death include diarrheal diseases, malaria, neonatal disorders, HIV/AIDS, and cardiovascular disease (CDC, 2017). Africa remains one of the most affected regions with HIV with 1 in every 25 adults living with HIV (AVERT, 2018). This continent accounts for nearly 2/3 of people living with HIV worldwide (AVERT, 2018). Because of the U.S president’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and other services, there has been an increase in high quality HIV prevention (CDC, 2017). Nigeria is placed at the 20^th spot in comparison to the world and have about 2.8 % prevalence (CIA, 2018). There have been recent outbreaks of poliomyelitis, which affects children under the age of 5 (WHO,2019). They are currently working on trying to eradicate the virus, but with failure to implement strategic approaches means the continuation of endemic transmissions.

When looking at Nigeria’s Health System, they continue to have challenges in achieving universal health coverage. Poor countries tend to not have enough healthcare or physicians who are highly trained and motivated. In an article published by PubMed, “Nigeria is financed through different sources including but not limited to tax revenue, out of pocket payments (OOP), donor funding, and health insurance,” (Uzochukwu, Ughasoro, Etiaba, Okwuosa, Envuladu, & Onwujekwe, 2015). In 2015, Nigeria had a 1:600 ratio for the distribution of physicians. The nation as a whole is still a working progress with many bills still on hold like the National Health Bill. Nigeria has a national strategic health development plan, but lacks finances and political commitment. While Nigeria has a current health expenditure of about 3.5%, the U.S has a health expenditure of about 16.6% (The World Bank, n.d).  Nigeria still has a very long way to go in order to achieve all Sustainable Developmental Goals, but the good news is that they are working on addressing all of their health issues appropriately. SDG #3 is definitely a priority in this country and is slowly obtaining the resources they need to solve the issue.

References

AVERT. (2018, October 08). Global HIV and AIDS statistics. Retrieved from https://www.avert.org/global-hiv-and-aids-statistics

Center of Diseases Control and Prevention. (October 2017). CDC in Nigeria. [PDF File]. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/globalhealth/countries/nigeria/pdf/nigeria.pdf

Central Intelligence Agency. (2018, February 01). The World Fact book: Nigeria. Retrieved from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ni.html

The World Bank. (n.d). Current health expenditure (% of GDP). Retrieved from https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.XPD.CHEX.GD.ZS

Uzochukwu, B. S., Ughasoro, M. D., Etiaba, E., Okwuosa, C., Envuladu, E., & Onwujekwe, O. E. (2015). Health care financing in Nigeria: Implications for achieving universal health coverage. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25966712/

World Health Organization. (2017). Nigeria fights high maternal mortality through improved quality of care. Retrieved from https://afro.who.int/news/nigeria-fights-high-maternal-mortality-through-improved-quality-care

World Health Organization. (2019, January 3). Poliomyelitis. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/poliomyelitis