Poor data stalls health financing in Nigeria

Title	Poor data stalls health financing in Nigeria
Year	2014
Author	A. Chiejina, D. Ojabo and E. Ifebi
DOI
URL	http://businessdayonline.com/2014/11/poor-data-stalls-health-financing-in-nigeria/#.VHuZFxYYuSo
Journal
Document Type	Webpage
Document Availability	Full Text
Classification	Other complementary UHC initiatives
Abstract	Availability of health data , analysts say is key to de-risking health financing in Nigeria. With the health sector recording a Cumulative Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 16 percent, seeking health financing to grow investments in the sector has remained a high hurdle for investors, as five out of the 24 local banks do not lend to the health sector in the country, analysts at the BusinessDay Annual Healthcare Financing Roundtable on Universal Health Coverage said. Olumide Okunola, senior health specialist, Health In Africa Initiative, at the World Bank Group, revealed that lack of aggregation of health data and reporting of health trends and fundamentals have been a disincentive for financial institutions to invest in the health sector. “Constraints to private sector participation in healthcare include access to capital, regulatory environment, fiscal policies, land acquisition and cost of doing business”, Okunola added. “Real-time data, trend reporting, efficient book and record keeping, as well as mergers of smaller hospitals to form a community of hospitals to engender economies of scale for cost reduction per head, are key in driving healthcare investment in the sector”, he further observed. Also, he said, recent data reveals that Nigeria ranks ninth globally, in terms of medical tourism outflows at the most expensive hospitals in London. Clare Omatseye, managing director, JNCI International Limited, an equipment solutions firm, explained that market constrains by healthcare providers from accessing finance is due to a dearth of bankable business proposals, ownership structure and corporate governance issues, among others.