At the heart of Nigeria are its people. We are tenacious, hardworking, and competitive. We are driven by our desire to achieve excellence in everything we do.
To keep the heart of Nigeria beating proudly, we must endeavour, in every way, to improve our health system.
If the current state of healthcare and wellness in Nigeria continues to decline, it will slowly erode the one thing that makes our country unique—its people.
A Strategic Approach to Combating The Brain Drain in Nigeria's Health Sector
Did you know that there are more Nigerian surgeons in Los Angeles than there are in the entire mainland of Nigeria?
For more than 40 years, skilled professionals, both young and old, who have received advanced training in Nigeria have been migrating to the USA, Canada, the UK, the European Union, and the Middle East searching for greener pastures.
According to the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), it is estimated that only 40,000 doctors are practising in the country out of over 80,000 registered doctors.
How do we build a Nigeria that can keep its best minds and encourage those who left to come back home?
If a nation can provide basic and advanced training to its people, it can also invest in career advancement, employment, safety and security, and a better standard of living for its people. This would be an enormous step toward reducing the brain drain in Nigeria.
But to make a lasting difference, we must improve our infrastructure, offer competitive wages, and create better working conditions for essential personnel. Through these improvements, we can convince the country’s most talented professionals to stay in Nigeria and build a brighter future.
Primary Healthcare: The Bedrock of Nigeria's Healthcare System
“A health system is only as strong as its primary healthcare system” – The Vice President of Nigeria, Professor Yemi Osinbajo.
Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) were created to ensure that every Nigerian has access to quality, affordable healthcare.
The lack of functional PHCs endangers the lives of people, especially women and children, in hard-to-reach communities. As a result, through our Adopt-A-Healthcare-Facility-Programme (ADHFP), we are committed to establishing a chain of PHCs across Nigeria’s 774 Local Government Areas.
To help improve the state of our healthcare system, here are four things we can do:
- Increasing investment and funding for PHCs.
- Strengthening human resources, especially in rural communities.
- Strengthening the health supply chain to ensure access to quality and affordable essential medicines.
- Improve the working conditions of doctors.
Improving health outcomes for every Nigerian will be a steady and slow process. It will require all private, public, and government stakeholders to come together and collaborate. Fortunately, we believe that this is possible, and we will continue to work towards it. Healthcare is a necessity, not a privilege.
We envision a Nigeria where everyone has access to equitable quality and affordable healthcare. A Nigeria with a young and vibrant beating heart.
Project Update
It is with great pleasure that we announce three distinguished patrons have made significant contributions to improving health outcomes in Nigeria:
- Mr Aliko Dangote (GCON), through his foundation (ADF), has committed to adopting 44 PHCs in Kano State, Nigeria.
- Mr Herbert Omyewumbu Wigwe through his foundation (HOW) has adopted 23 PHCs across all the Local Government Areas in Rivers state.
- Mr Aig-Aigboje Imoukhuede through his foundation (AIG) is adopting 23 PHCs across all the Local Government Areas in Edo State.
Before these three generous contributions, we had 91 PHCs adopted out of our target of 774, and now that number has increased to 181.
We would like to thank the Aliko Dangote Foundation, Herbert Omyewumbu Wigwe Foundation, Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation, and all of our ADHDP adopters for their continued commitment to improving the current state of healthcare in Nigeria.
This quarter, we are looking to revitalise two pilot projects, one in Delta State and the other in Bauchi State, and engagement with stakeholders at the government and community level has seen some increase. Documents and memoranda between parties have been signed, and local contractors/vendors have been contacted to make their input prior to kickoff.
We have made great strides, but we still have a long way to go.
Join our impressive network of forward-thinking leaders and support PSHAN today.
Please contact the Memberships and Partnerships team at memberships@pshan.org for more information about becoming a PSHAN member or ADHFP adopter.
