Nigeria’s healthcare service delivery is very poor. It ranks among the worst globally in terms of access and quality. In 2018 it was ranked 142 out of 195 countries by the general medical journal, the Lancet.

The World Bank ranks it 42 on a scale of 100 in its universal coverage index, which indicates the availability of essential healthcare services in the participating countries.

Some of the reasons for the sub-optimal healthcare delivery are linked to the country’s rapid population growth from 122.2 million in 2000 to 211.4 million.

Other factors include poor funding – the government spends less than 5% of its annual budget on health – and high attrition and migration of health workers.

There is also inefficiency within the health system and systemic neglect of rural areas. A poor reward system and a trade union crisis – including prolonged industrial actions by health workers – and corruption complete the list.

Women, young girls, and children are the worst affected by the poor health services. This is particularly true for those living in rural areas where the burden of disease is disproportionately high.

Some of the health indicators are very frightening. Nigeria accounts for nearly 20% of global maternal deaths. It is also among the five countries with the highest maternal deaths.

The reasons for this state of affairs are threefold. The first is that there are major hurdles to accessing care, which has a knock-on effect on women accessing decent family planning services. The other major contributor is that the opportunities for girls to attend school are massively curtailed, particularly in northern Nigeria. Extended years in school have been shown to make a marked difference to the choices girls make in later life.

Read the full article about the Nigerian health system's effect on women by Akanni Ibukun Akinyemi at Global Citizen.