Health & Education
From The Report: Nigeria 2023
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Although Nigeria’s growing population poses a number of challenges to the provision of health care, the sector’s longer-term investment prospects remain promising, as the Covid-19 pandemic created more opportunities for private sector innovation. Moreover, further reforms and greater government spending on health care have the potential to create significant positive outcomes. As for education, demand is expected to continue to outpace supply, and a lack of resources could impact mobility opportunities for the country’s young, growing population. Despite inadequate funding in Nigeria’s public schools, new educational institutions are entering the market to provide critical skills in science, technology, engineering and maths, providing students with the skills needed to contribute to the country’s development.

This chapter contains an interview with Pieter Slabberts, Managing Director, Eurapharma Care Services.

Articles from this Chapter

Overview

Commitment to care: New reforms and higher government spending shine a positive light on the sector’s long-term prospects
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Improving health care services and outcomes in Nigeria will necessitate sustained investment and targeted programmes to address key challenges. The implementation of the Basic Health Care Provision Fund scheme and the recent introduction of state health insurance, however, marks an important starting point for reforms towards universal health insurance. Moreover, better infectious disease surveillance and pandemic response helped to address the health and social consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic. Structure…

Interview

Closing the gap: Pieter Slabberts, Managing Director, Eurapharma Care Services, on attaining universal health care
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Interview:Pieter Slabberts In what ways can increased investment in Nigeria’s health care sector benefit the country? PIETER SLABBERTS: Increased investment in Nigeria’s health care infrastructure has the potential to solve two of Nigeria’s immediate challenges: unemployment and insecurity. A high number of gainfully employed Nigerians will likely diminish the recruitment pool for crime and terrorism, transforming the security landscape. Additionally, improving health care investment…

Analysis

Universal access: A revamped mandatory insurance scheme paves the way for delivering health care to all citizens
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The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) was enacted in 2004 to make it affordable for all citizens to have medical insurance, and to provide Nigerians relief from high out-of-pocket spending for health-related services. In 2019 a three-point rebranding was unveiled to improve the transparency and accountability of the insurance scheme, make the organisation result-oriented and accelerate efforts to attain universal health coverage (UHC). The recent National Health Insurance Scheme Strategic Plan…

Analysis

Plastic bubble: Solutions to address the environmental and health risks of plastic
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With many emerging markets still facing high levels of plastic waste after the Covid-19 pandemic, solutions are being developed to address its environmental and health challenges. Plastic – which accounted for 12% of global solid waste pre-pandemic, according to the World Bank – took on a more prominent role as personal protective equipment (PPE) and single-use plastics by delivery food services proliferated. Although the OECD found that overall plastic use fell by 2.2% in 2020 due to lockdowns,…

Overview

Development potential: Efforts to address low enrolment rates and ensure gender parity indicate a commitment to ensuring educational standards
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Delivering quality education to Nigeria’s large, youthful and rapidly growing population presents significant challenges, but also opportunities for education investors. Indeed, 43% of the 213m citizens in 2021 were under 14 years of age and the country’s annual population growth was 2.7% that year. There are a high number of out-of-school children due in part to insufficient infrastructure and pedagogical resources, as well as the ongoing unrest in the northern parts of the country. Supervision Different…

Analysis

Digital solutions: Local start-up organisations and increasing access to emerging technologies address gaps in the quality of education
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As economies transition away from traditional learning methods and the characteristics of job markets evolve, education technology (edtech) can help countries achieve efficiency and effectiveness in school management. With widespread resource shortages in schools across the country, Nigeria stands to make significant gains from digital methodologies in order to raise the quality and productivity of education. Internet Access There are significant challenges in offering internet coverage to populations…

Analysis

The metaverse in education: Building a digital landscape in institutes of higher learning
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In a bid to expand access, education is increasingly exploring the possibilities of the metaverse and extended-reality (XR) approaches. The former comprises a range of technologies which immerse users in a virtual environment. It denotes a 3D medium that combines virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) into a new digital realm, sometimes known as XR. These environments are accessed through VR headsets and are typically immersive, interactive and social. Expanding Access The world’s leading…