James Emejo in Abuja
The federal government is moving to make health spending more accountable for results, seeking stronger evidence that public funds devoted to healthcare are translating into better services and measurable improvements in patient outcomes.
This comes as policymakers and experts converge for the inaugural Nigeria Health Financing Research and Learning Forum, scheduled to begin today in Abuja.
The two-day forum is expected to focus on how evidence and health data can guide decisions on what treatments and services should receive funding, how healthcare providers are paid and where scarce resources can deliver the greatest impact.
The initiative comes amid expanding government investment in healthcare and rising health insurance enrolment, even as Nigerians continue to bear a significant share of medical costs from their pockets.
Health insurance enrolment had risen to over 23 million, while the federal government had released about ₦235 billion through the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund over the past three years.
The developments had increased pressure on policymakers to demonstrate that higher health spending is translating into improved access, quality of care and financial protection for households.
The forum, themed, “Evidence and Learning for Nigeria’s Health Financing Future: Building a Locally Led Research and Learning Ecosystem,” is being convened as part of the broader health sector reforms of the administration of President Bola Tinubu.
The reforms, coordinated by the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare under the Minister, Professor Muhammad Ali Pate, place emphasis on expanding access to healthcare, strengthening financial protection and improving the value derived from public health investments.
The forum will bring together policymakers, researchers, healthcare professionals and health financing specialists from Nigeria and other countries to examine how research can be translated into practical decisions across the health system.
A key area of discussion will be the use of evidence to determine which interventions provide sufficient health benefits to justify their costs, particularly as government and households operate under increasingly constrained resources.
The National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) has already begun applying Health Technology Assessment (HTA) to support such decisions. The approach assesses the clinical and economic value of medicines, treatments and other health interventions before resources are committed to them.
The authority has undertaken assessments covering kidney replacement therapy, colorectal cancer screening and treatment for advanced liver cancer.
The forum is expected to build on such initiatives by identifying critical evidence gaps and strengthening the connection between research findings, financing decisions and outcomes at the point of care.
The event is being organised through a collaboration involving the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, NHIA, Health Strategy and Delivery Foundation (HSDF), Nigeria Health Watch and the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research.
Participants will include the NHIA Director-General/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 expert, Dr. Girmaye Dinsa.
Others are Dr. Kheya Furtado of India’s Goa Institute of Management; HSDF Managing Principal and health economist, Dr. Yewande Ogundeji; and NHIA Director of Planning, Research and Statistics, Dr. Kurfi Abubakar Muhammad.
Beyond discussions on financing, the forum is expected to examine how Nigeria can develop a stronger locally led research and learning system capable of producing evidence that directly informs health policy and resource allocation.
The organisers said the ultimate focus would be to ensure that decisions on healthcare financing are increasingly informed by evidence and linked to tangible improvements in access, quality of services and patient outcomes.