Summary: | The past five decades have seen numerous health policies and development plans in Nigeria,
culminating in the National Health Act of 2014.8 The Act provides for a range of responsibilities,
instruments, and institutions, covering but not limited to: responsibility for health, eligibility for
health services, and establishment of a national health system; financing; health establishments
and technologies; rights and obligations of patients and healthcare personnel; national health
research and information system; human resources for health; control of blood, blood products,
tissue and gametes in humans; and regulations and miscellaneous provisions. It is, potentially,
a very consequential Act. To understand what needs to be different for this Act to succeed
where prior national policies mostly under-achieved, it is worth examining the context and some
key drivers of Nigeria’s health.
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