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Nigeria’s Healthcare Sector Requires Disruptive Innovative Approach- PHN
Nigeria’s healthcare sector has received billions in grants; however, the inadequacy of current health programs and stagnated results necessitates bold and disruptive innovative approaches to transform the sector.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Private Sector Health Alliance of Nigeria (PHN) Dr. Muntaqa Umar-Sadiq, made the remark during a presentation at the just concluded Nigeria Innovation Summit (NIS) in Lagos, adding that the epidemiological transition and population growth projected in the country exacerbate the need for scalability of effective innovative approaches within the health sector.
He said that the state of health was characterised by poor outcomes, poor quality and a lack of protection from financial risk which attracted the interest of concerned Nigeria who set up PHN to mobilizes private sector to complement government’s efforts in accelerating improvement in health outcomes by focusing on innovation, impact investments, advocacy and public-private partnerships.
Interventions by PHN, Dr. Umar-Sadiq said have saved at least one million lives of women and children in Nigeria.
“The sector requires innovations that address socio-economic challenges, such as poverty and health, also drive economic growth. In the 70s and 80s, Indonesia had a dependency ratio of about 86.84. Through several interventions focused on reducing the total fertility rate in the country, the dependency ratio reduced to 51.31 in 2010. It is expected that between 1980 and 2020, Indonesia’s dependency ratio will have reduced by 41%. Smaller dependency ratios increases the potential for economic growth (on average a 1 point reduction contributes 0.115% to economic growth). This is due to the fact that there is a higher percentage of the population in the workforce.
“Nigeria started out with a similar dependency ratio as Indonesia in the 1980s. However, our dependency ratio is projected to decrease by only 3% by 2020. This is because we have high infant and child mortality (69/1000 and 128/1000 respectively) and a high total fertility rate (6 children per woman). This limits the opportunity for economic growth. Health innovations centered around infant and child mortality as well as family planning could help Nigeria achieve the same results as Indonesia,” he said.
“Innovations from around the world have addressed similar health system challenges, leading to drastic improvement in quality, efficiency, accessibility and affordability of care.
Dr. Umar-Sadiq while charging startups present at the Summit to plug into the opportunities in the sector, added that, in recent times, a number of African countries have ridden a wave of locally appropriate innovations to accelerate progress in the health related MDGs.
“There has been little traction in harnessing these needed bold innovations in health for the Nigerian health market due to several constraints: visibility, capacity, fragmentation and lack of data.
He made case for startups in the healthcare system, stating that they require visibility; “visibility increases awareness of promising new innovations and approaches to address health challenges. Investors have little visibility on compelling viable health innovations.
“Poor capacity and support system for health innovators – they lack access to capital, business and financial management and basic business startup support / incubation needed to take ideas through to market. Investors and health innovators lack the convergence platforms that create market and technical linkages as well as COPs and scalable platforms for sustainable impact and limited evidence based knowledge products and data to facilitates the development and dissemination of focused insights and new evidence about innovations and their strategies to scale and replicate”.
He said that PHN’s theory of change requires rethinking the way health sector partnerships and innovations are curated for impact. The Private Sector Health Alliance of Nigeria (PHN) led by business leaders in Nigeria including Alhaji Aliko Dangote therefore embraces the need to focus on mobilizing the private sector to advance health outcomes through innovation and partnerships.
The Private Sector Health Alliance led a coalition of partners to create the Nigeria Health Innovation Marketplace (NHIM) focuses on four inter-related core objectives: Identify promising innovations; incubate and create linkages that will enable scale; convergence platform around health innovation and invest for impact in selected opportunities.
NHIM covers a plethora of components including a health innovaton hub, an accelerator program and healthcare challenges and has since curated over 42 innovations through the business development boot camp representing four archetypes of healthcare innovations.
The Nigeria Innovation Summit, a brainchild of Emerging Media, also attracted participants delegates from the Private Sector Health Alliance of Nigeria; Anambra State Government; Kaduna State; Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment; UNIDO/NIRP; Oxford Business Group; British High Commission; University of Lagos; Federal University of Technology, Owerri; Caleb University; Crescent University; Nasarawa State University; Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic, Zaria, amongst others.
Accelerating artificial intelligence (AI) adoption could increase Africa’s GDP by up to 4% over the next decade, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
In a report released on Tuesday, titled Africa Can Grow Faster With AI—If It Moves Now, economists from the IMF’s Africa Department say current levels of AI adoption and utilisation are expected to contribute just 0.2% to the region’s GDP over the next 10 years.
However, the report says stronger adoption, supported by the right infrastructure and policies, could raise the economic impact to about 4% by extending AI beyond today’s digitally connected firms.
Martin Schindler and other IMF economists say: “AI adoption in sub-Saharan Africa currently lags well behind every other region. If richer economies race ahead while African firms and governments lag, the productivity gap between the region and the rest of the world will only widen.”
Early signs of AI adoption are emerging across Africa, with countries including Zimbabwe, Kenya, Egypt and Nigeria developing AI strategies.
Telecommunications operators, including Vodacom, Econet, Africell and MTN, are also integrating AI into their operations and networks.
Other examples include chatbots supporting teaching and learning in Nigeria and the South African Revenue Service’s use of data analytics for targeted tax audits.
However, the IMF says AI adoption must extend beyond these early use cases to deliver meaningful economic benefits.
“For the region, AI’s main promise is not about replacing office workers, but boosting productivity across the economy—helping informal firms manage inventory, enabling farmers to increase yields, and supporting mid-sized firms to transition to formality and export readiness,” the report reads.
The IMF is urging governments to prioritise investment in reliable electricity, affordable broadband, data infrastructure and digital skills to support wider AI adoption.
Many African countries, including Zimbabwe, Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon, continue to face electricity shortages, while broadband services remain costly and coverage is uneven.
The Fund believes stronger investment in power, connectivity, regional data infrastructure and digital skills would help unlock AI’s economic potential.
National Population Commission (NPC) has commenced the nationwide digital registration of births and deaths under the Electronic Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (E-CRVS) system to strengthen legal identity management and improve demographic data.
Speaking at a press briefing in Lokoja on Tuesday, Mr Afolabi Yori, federal commissioner representing Kogi, said the initiative became operational nationwide on July 1, through the VitalReg platform.
Yori described the development as a landmark in Nigeria’s civil registration system, noting that it would modernise birth and death registration through a technology-driven platform that meets international standards.
He said the digital platform would improve service delivery, strengthen data integrity and ensure that every birth and death occurring in Nigeria was accurately documented and securely stored.
According to him, civil registration is more than an administrative process, as it provides reliable statistics that support public policy formulation, resource allocation and national development planning.
“Nigeria records an estimated five million births annually, yet millions of births and deaths remain unregistered.
“Birth registration coverage currently stands at about 57 per cent nationwide, while death registration remains below 20 per cent,” he said.
The commissioner said that the commission had established 4,011 functional registration centres across the country’s 774 local government areas and was working to expand the number to about 8,000.
He added that the commission was strengthening collaboration with stakeholders to improve the capacity of registration personnel and ensure prompt documentation of vital events through the VitalReg platform.
Yori said the platform would provide faster registration services, 24-hour online access, digital certificate issuance where applicable, and reduce paperwork, waiting time and unnecessary travel.
He disclosed that the platform was being operated under a Public-Private Partnership with Barnks-forte Technologies Ltd. as the commission’s technical partner to ensure system availability, cybersecurity and continuous technological improvement.
He called on parents, healthcare institutions, traditional and religious leaders, civil society organisations, development partners and the media to support the initiative by encouraging the prompt registration of births and deaths.
Earlier, Samuel Omonakpeme, director in Kogi, NPC State, described the commencement of the digital registration system as another milestone in efforts to strengthen Nigeria’s Civil Registration and Vital Statistics system.
Omonakpeme stated that the initiative aligns with the Federal Government’s digital transformation agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly Goal 16.9, which seeks to provide legal identity for all.
He appreciated the Federal Government, the leadership of the commission, UNICEF and other development partners for supporting the implementation of the initiative.
The state director also urged parents, guardians, health institutions, community leaders, religious organisations and the media to mobilise public support for the timely registration of all births and deaths.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that ICT personnel of the commission, led by Ehimoni Kolawole, conducted a live demonstration of the digital birth registration process using the VitalReg platform.
The demonstration showed that the registration process captures the biodata of both parents, while at least one parent must possess a valid National Identification Number (NIN) to complete the registration of a newborn.
Yola Electricity Distribution Company (YEDC) has alerted its customers to a fraudulent message circulating on social media, falsely claiming that electricity consumers can receive an additional 20 per cent bonus units when recharging their prepaid meters through unofficial channels.
In a statement issued by the company’s management on Monday, YEDC described the claim as false and urged customers to disregard the misleading information, stressing that it did not originate from the company.
According to the statement, YEDC does not offer bonus electricity units through individuals, agents, personal bank accounts, phone numbers, or social media contacts.
The company advised customers to purchase electricity tokens only through approved cashless payment platforms, including the YEDC Pay App, OPay, Interswitch, and other authorised vending channels, or to visit the nearest YEDC office for assistance.
YEDC also cautioned customers against sharing their meter details or personal information, or making payments to unauthorised persons claiming to represent the company.
The company further urged customers to rely exclusively on information disseminated through its official communication channels to avoid falling victim to fraud.
The management thanked customers for their continued cooperation and reaffirmed its commitment to serving them.
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