… approves additional N40 billion through the Basic Health Care Provision F
The federal government has renovated 3,526 primary healthcare centres (PHCs), retrained over 78,000 skilled birth attendants and expanded health insurance coverage to 23.02 million Nigerians, as it steps up efforts to improve access to affordable, quality healthcare.
The National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) is rehabilitating another 908 facilities, bringing the total covered by its revitalisation programme to 4,434. Meanwhile, the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) recorded a 42 percent increase in insurance enrolment over the past one and a half years.
The government has also approved an additional N40 billion through the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) to strengthen medical supplies, drug security and emergency transportation.
This emerged at a quarterly media briefing in Abuja on Thursday by Executive Director (ED) of the NPHCDA, Dr Muyi Aina, alongside the NHIA Director-General (DG), Dr Kelechi Ohiri, where the NPHCDA Chief said the agency is targeting improved access to functional facilities across wards, particularly in underserved communities, with level-two centres expected to have reliable electricity, water and sanitation.
He said the number of level-two PHCs had increased by 59 percent from the March 2024 baseline, with more than half of Nigeria’s approximately 27,000 PHCs functioning at level one or level two.
On workforce development, Aina said over 78,000 skilled birth attendants had been retrained under the presidential initiative to train 120,000 frontline health workers, while training had commenced for another 23,000 community-based health workers.
The Federal Government had also equipped more than 500 PHCs, complementing investments by state governments and other partners, he added, noting that the interventions had helped increase quarterly patient contacts from about 33 million to between 43 million and 45 million, peaking at 46 million in 2025.
He said first antenatal visits rose from 1.6 million to 1.8 million per quarter, while fourth visits increased by 38 per cent, from 598,000 in 2023 to about 830,000 in 2025, he disclosed, noting that quarterly births attended by skilled personnel also rose from 483,000 to nearly 700,000.
Furthermore, he added that under the Maternal Mortality Reduction Innovation and Initiatives (MAMII) programme, operating in 34 states and the Federal Capital Territory, 773,200 pregnant women have been linked to and tracked through healthcare facilities across 172 targeted local government areas.
Aina said the programme had reduced maternal mortality by 17 percent in participating local government areas within one year.
On immunisation, he disclosed that more than 18.3 million girls aged nine to 14 had received the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, while the measles-rubella campaign had reached over 102 million children.
He said the malaria vaccine had been administered to 282,000 children in Kebbi, Bayelsa, Ondo and Bauchi states, but warned that vaccine-preventable diseases remained a concern, with about 93 percent of children affected by recent diphtheria outbreaks either unvaccinated or incompletely vaccinated and cases confirmed in 25 states, including the FCT.
The ED said the government would continue expanding immunisation and targeting underserved communities to reduce the number of children who had received no routine vaccines.
On financing, Aina said the Ministerial Oversight Committee had approved an additional N40 billion through the BHCPF to address supply-chain gaps, drug security and emergency transportation.
Facilities receiving BHCPF funding, according to him, recorded service volumes at least four times higher than those without it, prompting plans to expand coverage from 8,300 to 13,512 facilities
He said the NHIA and NPHCDA managed approximately 90 per cent of the fund’s resources through their respective gateways.
Aina urged state and local governments to provide adequate maintenance funding, stressing that primary healthcare operations remained primarily their responsibility, while the NPHCDA focused on standards, resource mobilisation and quality assurance.
On insurance coverage, Ohiri said enrolment had risen from about 16 million in January 2024 to 23.02 million, including at least 3.18 million poor and vulnerable Nigerians covered under the BHCPF.
He said the NHIA was prioritising expanded coverage, equity, service quality and market sustainability, while working with government agencies to extend insurance to informal-sector workers, gig workers and the self-employed.
Ohiri added that more than 80,000 women had benefited from free, reimbursable emergency maternal healthcare at over 270 accredited secondary and tertiary facilities within two years. Government-funded interventions had also supported about 6,000 women requiring fistula treatment and provided life-saving care to over 67,000 newborns.
Additionally, he disclosed that about 60,000 people living with HIV or tuberculosis had benefited from insurance integration programmes in five states under a Global Fund-supported initiative.
The NHIA, he said, had also secured approval to extend insurance coverage to inmates in correctional facilities, with implementation to include facility accreditation, verification of inmates’ National Identification Numbers and assignment to appropriate healthcare providers.
On service quality, Ohiri said a review of tariffs that had remained unchanged for about a decade doubled capitation payments and increased fee-for-service reimbursements by 373 percent.
According to the DG, the authority also resolved about 87 percent of complaints within 48 hours over the past year and introduced measures to help enrollees verify their benefits and obtain assistance.
“Many Nigerians are only one sickness away from financial catastrophe,” Ohiri said, emphasising the need to protect households from healthcare costs.
