Why We Could Not Deliver Quality Health Care In 2025—Minister

<h4>Why We Could Not Deliver Quality Health Care In 2025<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<h4><&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that the Minister of Health&comma; Prof&period; Mohammed Ali Pate&comma; on Monday said the <strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">Ministry of Health<&sol;a><&sol;strong> was unable to utilise its 2025 capital budget&comma; having received only N36 million out of the N218 billion appropriated for the year&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Professor  Pate made the disclosure during a 2026 budget defence session with the House of Representatives Committee on Healthcare Services&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He stated that while the ministry’s entire personnel budget was released and fully expended&comma; the same could not be said of the capital component&comma; due largely to the bottom-up cash planning system operated by the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;vanguardngr&period;com&sol;">Office<&sol;a> of the Accountant-General of the Federation&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He further informed lawmakers that the ministry was unable to access certain counterpart funds because of delays in the release of Nigeria’s counterpart contributions&comma; adding that implementation of the 2025 capital budget was consequently stalled by unforeseen circumstances&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to the minister&comma; Nigeria’s health sector is guided by Vision 20&colon;2020&comma; the Medium-Term National Development Plan &lpar;NDP&rpar; 2021–2025&comma; and the National Strategic Health Development Plan &lpar;NSHDP&rpar; II&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Technically&comma; Health in Nigeria is characterized by significant&comma; yet slow&comma; improvements alongside major challenges&comma; including high rates of malaria&comma; infectious diseases &lpar;HIV&sol;AIDS&comma; tuberculosis&rpar;&comma; and rising non-communicable diseases&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The system suffers from inadequate funding &lpar;often 5&percnt; of the budget&rpar;&comma; severe brain drain of healthcare professionals&comma; and underdeveloped infrastructure&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Key Health Status and Challenges&colon;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Leading Causes of Death&colon; Malaria&comma; lower respiratory infections&comma; HIV&sol;AIDS&comma; neonatal disorders&comma; and diarrheal diseases are the top causes&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Maternal &amp&semi; Child Health<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Nigeria contributes significantly to global under-5 and maternal mortality&comma; with 25&percnt; of under-5 deaths and 11&percnt; of maternal deaths&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;<strong>Disease Burden<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>High prevalence of malnutrition and&comma; more recently&comma; rising instances of chronic conditions like heart disease and cancer&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Infrastructure<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Healthcare is structured in three levels &lpar;primary&comma; secondary&comma; tertiary&rpar;&comma; but primary care is often underfunded and dysfunctional&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>System Constraints&colon;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Brain Drain<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Over 50&percnt; of trained Nigerian doctors are estimated to work abroad&comma; leading to a severe shortage &lpar;approx&period; 23&period;3 doctors per 100&comma;000 people&rpar;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Funding<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Public spending on health is low&comma; forcing high out-of-pocket payments for citizens&comma; making care inaccessible for many&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Medical Tourism<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The country loses over &dollar;2 billion annually to medical tourism&comma; particularly to India&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Government Initiatives<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Efforts to improve the sector include the Presidential Initiative on Unlocking Healthcare Value Chains &lpar;PVAC&rpar; launched in 2023 to boost local manufacturing of medicines and improve facilities&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Key Statistics &lpar;as of 2026&rpar;&colon;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Population<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Over 200 million &lpar;fastest growing in Africa&rpar;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Life Expectancy<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Improved to approximately 55&period;2 years by 2021&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Poverty Rate&colon; Roughly 63&percnt; of the population faces multidimensional poverty&comma; limiting access to care&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;