Stakeholders seek evidence-driven strategy to improve healthcare access

NHIA Seeks Locally Led Research Agenda to Drive Health Financing Reforms The National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) has called for a locally led health financing research agenda to support reforms, expand health insurance coverage and strengthen financial protection for Nigerians. The Director-General of the NHIA, Dr Kelechi Ohiri, made the call on Monday in Abuja at the inaugural Nigeria Health Financing Research and Learning Forum. The forum, themed “Evidence and Learning for Nigeria’s Health Financing Future: Building a Locally Led Research and Learning Ecosystem,” brought stakeholders together to discuss ways of strengthening evidence-based health financing policies in the country. Ohiri said Nigeria needed to take greater ownership of the research guiding its health financing policies and reforms. According to him, the country’s reliance on occasional and externally driven studies had made it difficult to develop a consistent and sustainable evidence base for decision-making. “For too long, our health financing initiatives in Nigeria have been shaped by well-meant studies designed, commissioned, analysed, reported, synthesised and presented to us at the finish line,” Ohiri said. He stressed the need for a stronger research and learning ecosystem that would enable Nigerian institutions and researchers to generate evidence that directly responds to the country’s health financing challenges. The NHIA boss said locally generated evidence would help policymakers better understand emerging challenges, assess the impact of reforms and develop policies capable of improving access to affordable healthcare. He added that strengthening local research capacity would be critical to achieving broader health insurance coverage and reducing the financial burden of healthcare on Nigerians.