Health funding: 34 states fail to meet 15% benchmark – Report

A new health report released by The ONE Campaign has shown that federal and several state governments in Nigeria continue to fall short of the 15 percent continental health funding benchmark for African countries.

The report titled ‘Post-Pandemic Health Financing by State Governments in Nigeria 2020 to 2022’, provides an in-depth analysis of sub-national and federal government health expenditure trends. 

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It said while the combined budgetary allocations of all 36 states increased by 12.8 percent between 2020 and 2022, in real terms, the health sector received less funding in 2022 than in 2020 when adjusted for inflation.

The report said only Kaduna and Sokoto States consistently met the 15 percent health allocation target between 2020 and 2022.

It also said 13 states had reduced their fiscal allocations to the health sector.

“Public health allocations per person have fallen from $10.8 per person in 2020 to $8.5 per person in 2022,” the report added.

Stanley Achonu, Nigeria Country Director at The ONE Campaign, said: “Nigeria’s health indicators are reportedly some of the worst in Africa. COVID-19 has exposed additional gaps in the country’s healthcare system and has shown why the sector requires ambitious strategies and adequate funding in order to serve the masses, particularly the poor and most vulnerable in the society.”