When COVID-19 hit Nigeria in early 2020, it was feared that its chronically understaffed fitness formula would be overwhelmed. Frustrated by wages and conditions, much of their top professional staff had left in search of better opportunities.
However, although Nigeria ended up avoiding the worst predictions of the pandemic, thanks to a young population with an average age of 18, the country still has some of the worst fitness outcomes in the world.
Life expectancy in Nigeria is only 55 years, the fourth lowest in the world. The country has the highest under-five mortality rate and is the most damaging position for pregnant women: Nigeria accounts for 20% of all pregnancy- and childbirth-like deaths worldwide. , according to the World Health Organization, despite 2. 6% of the world’s population.
Nigeria’s government says it has already implemented some of the reforms highlighted in a recent report published in the fitness journal The Lancet and will “carefully consider” other recommendations as it seeks to improve fitness outcomes for its 206 million people. Remedy and delays in access to good physical care are the main reasons for Nigeria’s highest maternal mortality rate.
Childbirth is dangerous in rural areas of the country, where poverty and poor fitness infrastructure exacerbate an already dangerous environment for pregnant women, says Abiodun Adereni, founder of HelpMum, a fitness startup that deals with maternal mortality in Nigeria.
Adereni says pregnant women are encouraged to seek help from trained fitness personnel in their communities. ” he says.
In Nigeria, 917 women die per 100,000 live births and 72 young children die per 1,000 live births. This compares to 308 and 33 respectively in Ghana, where other people live on average nine years longer than in Nigeria.
Ghana has a much smaller population than Nigeria, but a per capita gross domestic product equivalent to around $2,400. However, his government has provided better physical care because it has a more holistic technique for delivery, says Ibrahim Abubakar, a professor of infectious diseases. disease epidemiology at University College London and chair of the commission that produced the Lancet report.
“Quality fitnesscare is everything,” he says. Quality of fitness centers, medicines, supply chains for authentic medicines, data recording, knowledge systems and education of fitness care workers. “
Ghana offers subsidized number one physical assistance through a national service, introduced in 2003, which provides about 40 percent of its citizens with regimen treatment, such as antimalarial drugs.
Peter Hawkins, UNICEF’s representative in Nigeria, says government investment in all grades wants to increase to allow number one physical care to keep up with population growth, especially in rural areas, where sports facilities are non-existent.
“80% of [fitness] disorders can be resolved or prevented in the number one physical care system, but many other people go directly to secondary or tertiary hospitals,” Hawkins says. “The investment is disproportionate to the impact. This will have to be remedied.
Only a handful of African countries meet the WHO-recommended ratio of 10 consistent doctors with 10,000 inhabitants. For Nigeria and Ghana, the figures are 3. 8 and 1. 7 respectivamente. la Abuja Declaration of the African Union in 2001. But Nigeria allocated 5% to fitness in its last budget, while Ghana allocated 7. 6% of its 2022 budget to fitness spending.
is disproportionate to impact
Nearly 70% of Ghana’s population benefits from some form of health insurance, either through the National Health Programme or through personal schemes available to the country’s middle class. The 2012 study found that Ghana’s national insurance scheme has greater access to the shaped physical care sector.
And, for 1. 5 million of its poorest citizens, Ghana provides direct money transfers per month worth around $20 to cover health costs. Nigeria has a similar task that covers another 8 million people equaling $12 per month, but, most importantly, Ghana offers insurance in addition to money transfer. This ensures that far fewer Ghanaians have to pay the prices of number one physical care.
Nigeria’s government will have to increase fitness spending at all levels and offer a national insurance program to its poorest citizens, Abubakar says, while making sure money already spent is accountable.
“It is in the interest of fitness and sectors that budget spending increases and is used responsibly,” he said.