Economic Implication of Poor Health Infrastructure in Nigeria

Economic Implication of Poor Health Infrastructure in Nigeria
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Economic Implication of Poor Health Infrastructure in Nigeria
Health is regarded as one of the important determinants of sustainable economic development. This perspective means that countries seeking to expand their economies must treat health as a top priority. Although this point is widely acknowledged, some countries still lag in investing in their economies. Nigeria lends itself to the subject as one example of countries with a poorly performing health system. Nigeria is a distinctive nation with many opportunities. The nation is situated strategically on the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa. Along with Chad and Cameroon, it shares borders with Niger, Benin, and Cameroon. It features varied geography, including semi-desert, wetlands, tropical forests, grasslands, and woodlands. The president serves as the leader of both the federal government and the state under this structured federal republic. The nation’s economy is mixed, promising some degree of personal independence alongside some degree of centralized economic planning and government supervision. It is well integrated regionally. It is one of the most populous nations, coming seventh on lists of the world’s most populous nations (Worldometer, 2022). There are at least 215,203,368 inhabitants, or 2.64 percent of all people on earth. The population is still expanding. The population was 206,139,589 as of 2020. The nation’s total land area is 910,770 km2. At least 52% of the populace are urbanites, with a population density of 226 persons per square kilometer (Worldometer, 2022). It is one of Africa’s most dynamic economies. The country remains committed to the pursuit of economic development.
The health sector significantly influences the economic progress of any country. Despite Nigeria recording the greatest gross domestic product (GDP) across the African continent, it has a low per capita income amounting to roughly 770 000 Naira (US$2000). Accordingly, wealth, income, and, as a result, healthcare is characterized by inequitable allocation, mostly culminating in access and quality disparities based on these parameters. It depicts deprivation amid abundance. Nigeria can be conceptualized as both an economically disadvantaged and an affluent country. Nearly 40 percent of Nigerians live below the poverty line and have poor neighborhoods (Babatunde, 2017). As a result, these populations are increasingly at risk of experiencing catastrophic costs from significant out-of-pocket healthcare costs incurred to access vital services.
In addition, the country’s overall healthcare outcomes prove increasingly undesirable, particularly in comparison to other African countries recording similar economic growth rates and earnings potential. Noteworthy, federal statistics fail to display the drastic discrepancies between the affluent and the economically disadvantaged, rural and city populations, as well as various geographical locations. Nigeria also has a lot of potentials. With 206 million citizens and a wealth of human talent, it is the most populous country i...