The World Health Organisation, WHO, has urged Nigeria to strengthen the use of research and evidence in designing health financing policies as the country pushes toward achieving Universal Health Coverage, UHC.
Dr. Robert Marten of the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research, WHO, made the call on Tuesday in Abuja at the ongoing National Health Financing Dialogue with the theme “Reimagining the Future of Health Financing in Nigeria.”
Presenting a paper on global experiences with evidence-based policy, Marten said Nigeria faced peculiar challenges in health financing that required homegrown solutions. He stressed that health financing should be reframed as an investment, backed by stronger domestic resource mobilisation to drive progress toward UHC.
According to him, Nigeria must urgently raise its primary healthcare spending from seven dollars to 30 dollars per person and increase government health allocations from eight percent to 15 percent of national expenditure. He also emphasised the need to reduce out-of-pocket health costs by expanding enrolment into the National Health Insurance Authority.
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“While there is broad agreement on what needs to be done, the real challenge lies in how to do it. This is where health policy and systems research become crucial,” Marten said.
He pointed to examples from India, which rolled out the world’s largest tax-funded health insurance scheme now covering 500 million people, as well as reforms in Rwanda, Mexico, Ghana and Taiwan where research was deliberately embedded into policy cycles. Nigeria, he said, could adapt lessons from those countries by investing in local research capacity, strengthening collaboration between policymakers and researchers, and institutionalising evidence-based decision-making.
Marten noted that reforms succeed when backed by credible local institutions, measurable quick wins, multi-sectoral collaboration and sustained trust among government, academia and development partners. He warned against fragmented efforts and underestimating the political realities of reforms, urging stakeholders to instead build trust networks and seize current opportunities.
“This is a moment in time for Nigeria to step up. Global health financing commitments are shrinking, but Nigeria has world-class expertise and leadership. Building a learning ecosystem that embeds research in policy is key to moving forward,” he said.
The four-day dialogue, which began on Monday, brings together policymakers, development partners, civil society, media, academics, private sector representatives and health insurance actors. It is expected to build on recent progress and translate high-level commitments into actionable strategies for sustainable health financing in Nigeria.
NAN
