Nigeria Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! === Health === {{further|Health in Nigeria}} [[File:Paediatric ward, General hospital, Ilorin.jpg|thumb|Paediatric ward, General hospital, Ilorin]] Health care delivery in Nigeria is a concurrent responsibility of the three tiers of government in the country, and the private sector.<ref>Akhtar, Rais (1991), ''Health Care Patterns and Planning in Developing Countries'', Greenwood Press, p. 264.</ref> Nigeria has been reorganising its health system since the [[Bamako Initiative]] of 1987, which formally promoted community-based methods of increasing accessibility of drugs and health care services to the population, in part by implementing user fees.<ref>{{cite web |title=User fees for health: a background |url=http://www.eldis.org/healthsystems/userfees/background.htm |url-status=dead |access-date=28 December 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061128203803/http://www.eldis.org/healthsystems/userfees/background.htm |archive-date=28 November 2006}}</ref> The new strategy dramatically increased accessibility through community-based health care reform, resulting in more efficient and equitable provision of services. A comprehensive approach strategy was extended to all areas of health care, with subsequent improvement in the health care indicators and improvement in health care efficiency and cost.<ref>{{cite web |title=Effect of the Bamako-Initiative drug revolving fund on availability and rational use of essential drugs in primary health care facilities in south-east Nigeria |url=http://heapol.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/17/4/378 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070828093311/http://heapol.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/17/4/378 |archive-date=28 August 2007 |access-date=28 December 2006}}</ref> 48% of Nigerians report that they or a household member have fallen ill in the last three months. [[Malaria]] had been diagnosed in 88% of the cases and [[typhoid fever]] in 32%.<ref name=":13">{{cite web |date=2023-05-15 |title=Malaria Disease: A Worrisome Health Challenge in Nigeria |url=https://www.noi-polls.com/post/malaria-disease-a-worrisome-health-challenge-in-nigeria |access-date=2023-07-06 |website=NOIPolls}}</ref> High blood pressure was in third place with 8%. For symptoms of malaria, 41% of Nigerians turn to a [[hospital]], 22% to a chemist's shop, 21% to a pharmacy and 11% seek cure through herbs.<ref name=":13" /> The [[HIV/AIDS in Nigeria|HIV/AIDS rate in Nigeria]] is much lower than in other African nations such as Botswana or South Africa whose prevalence (percentage) rates are in the double digits. {{As of|2019}}, the [[HIV]] prevalence rate among adults of ages 15β49 was 1.5 per cent.<ref name=":0" /> [[Life expectancy]] in Nigeria is 54.7 years on average,<ref name=":0">{{cite web|title={{!}} Human Development Reports|url=http://hdr.undp.org/en/countries/profiles/NGA|access-date=2021-02-04|website=hdr.undp.org}}</ref> and 71% and 39% of the population have access to improved water sources and improved [[sanitation]], respectively.<ref>{{cite web|title=Countdown Country Profiles|url=https://profiles.countdown2030.org/#/cp/NGA|access-date=2021-02-04|website=profiles.countdown2030.org}}</ref> {{As of|2019}}, the infant mortality is 74.2 deaths per 1,000 [[live birth (human)|live births]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Mortality rate, infant (per 1,000 live births) - Nigeria {{!}} Data|url=https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.IMRT.IN?locations=NG|access-date=2021-02-04|website=data.worldbank.org}}</ref> In 2012, a new bone marrow donor program was launched by the [[University of Nigeria]] to help people with [[leukaemia]], [[lymphoma]], or [[sickle cell disease]] to find a compatible donor for a life-saving [[Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation|bone marrow transplant]], which cures them of their conditions. Nigeria became the second African country to have successfully carried out this surgery.<ref name=McNeil>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/12/health/a-match-and-a-mission-helping-blacks-battle-cancer.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all |title=Finding a Match, and a Mission: Helping Blacks Survive Cancer |last=McNeil |first=Donald |date=11 May 2012 |work=The New York Times |access-date=15 May 2012}}</ref> In the [[Western African Ebola virus epidemic|2014 Ebola outbreak]], Nigeria was the first country to effectively contain and eliminate the Ebola threat that was ravaging three other countries in the West African region; the unique method of [[contact tracing]] employed by Nigeria became an effective method later used by countries such as the United States when Ebola threats were discovered.<ref name="Matt Schiavenza">{{cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/10/why-nigeria-stopped-ebola-but-not-boko-haram/381442/|title=Why Nigeria Was Able to Beat Ebola, but Not Boko Haram|first=Matt |last=Schiavenza|date=14 October 2014|work=The Atlantic|access-date=17 April 2015}}</ref><ref name="The Punch">{{cite news|url=http://www.punchng.com/news/us-sends-medical-experts-to-study-how-nigeria-contained-ebola/ |title=US sends experts to study Nigeria's anti-Ebola strategies |newspaper=The Punch |date=3 October 2014 |access-date=8 May 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141205124719/http://www.punchng.com/news/us-sends-medical-experts-to-study-how-nigeria-contained-ebola/ |archive-date= 5 December 2014}}</ref><ref name="Vanguard">{{cite web |url=http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/10/us-sends-medical-experts-study-nigeria-tamed-ebola/ |title=US sends medical experts to study how Nigeria tamed Ebola |first=Hugo |last=Odiogor|work=Vanguard |date=2 October 2014 |access-date=8 May 2015}}</ref> The Nigerian health care system is continuously faced with a shortage of doctors known as "[[Human capital flight|brain drain]]", because of emigration by skilled Nigerian doctors to North America and Europe. In 1995, an estimated 21,000 Nigerian doctors were practising in the United States alone, which is about the same as the number of doctors working in the Nigerian public service. Retaining these expensively trained professionals has been identified as one of the goals of the government.<ref>{{cite web |last = Anekwe |first = Mike Chinedu |title = BRAIN DRAIN: THE NIGERIAN EXPERIENCE (1) |publisher =[[Niger Delta Congress]] |date = April 2003 |url = http://www.nigerdeltacongress.com/barticles/brain_drain_the_nigerian_experie.htm |access-date = 7 June 2011 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110527134510/http://www.nigerdeltacongress.com/barticles/brain_drain_the_nigerian_experie.htm |archive-date = 27 May 2011 |url-status = dead }}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page