Despite the improvement of health care management in Nigeria, a lot still have to be done. this is because many Nigerians still find it difficult to gain access to good and affordable healthcare facilities. But before we go further, it is imperative for us to first of all take a cursory look at the meanings of Health and Healthcare .
In his in search of Health Leroy Walters defined Health thus: “Health is functional normality. It is a state of physical well-being.” The definition of health by Leroy Walters hinged health on the normal functioning of the body. To Karl Barth in CHURCH DOGMATICS, “Health is the power to be as a man exercised in the powers of the vital functions of soul and body”. Karl Barth saw health not concerning only the body but also the soul.
However, the World Health Organisation gives a comprehensive definition of health. According to WHO
“Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of diseases or infirmity.”
The World Health Organisation, (WHO) which is an arm of the United Nations Organisation, in 1946 organised an international conference to specify the conditions for achieving more effective health services for the nations of the world. Good health care delivery, according to the U.N.O. is necessary for distributive peace among nations. The question that looms large at this juncture is, what type and at what level of health is the question at issue? This question made it sine quo non for us to clarify the meaning of what exactly health is. Pantale on Iroegbu in his Health : Definition, value and Health care, expatiated more on the definition of health by the WHO.
“While the conference was the occasion, the above question was at the back drop for the above definition of health. The aim for a standard and universally acceptable definition was to achieve a twofold purpose. First, the definition to be given was to be a corrective to the general negative understanding of health as lack of disease. Health positively understand is the process of something of some reality. That reality is well-being in the human person’s personal life.
Secondly, the definition would try to over come the one-sided understanding of health as something merely physical. Once my body is functioning well without pain or suffering then I am health. But the body cannot be functioning well yet the person is in mental or psychological anguish, thereby unhealthy in the full sense. Health properly defined, must be much more than physical well-being. So the members of the conference argued. To be health one should be fully and not partly healthy.”
The WHO look at health from a holistic perspective, health is seen as a whole and not as a part. Hence, health concerns itself with the body, mind and the society. these three are interrelated. When the body is under pains, the mind is affected and the uneasiness of a sick person affects those around him. The absence of any of these three is what is regarded as illness. Illness is the disruption of good health.
Healthcare is about our attitudes towards our health needs. It is popularly said that a healthy nation is a wealthy nation. Healthcare is geared towards ensuring a complete physical mental and social well-being in individuals. We all have right to health care. The right to healthcare is implicitly linked to the right to life. “But there are no rights without limitations, hence, it is imperative to know the minimum healthcare one can safely and reasonably lay claim to as a member of any society. life, that is human life is of reasonably lay claim to as a member of any given society. life, that is human life, is of fundamental value. Based on this, the right to life is fundamental posited female on Ireegbu.
One major factor which affects the healthcare of Nigerians negatively is Poverty. The high rate of poverty in Nigeria has brought about a condition of life that is so characterized by malnutrition, illiteracy disease and squalid surroundings, high infant mortality and low life expectancy.
Unfortunately, the bulk of hungry, disease infested population and hopeless people are in sub-Sahara Africa. According to R.O. Makanjuola in his Healthcare in Nigerian, “infant mortality rate in Nigeria per thousand is 112 in 1997 and life expectancy 52. The high level of poverty has made it impossible for most individuals to gain access to good health facilities. Lives have been lost as a result of the inability of a patient to deposit an amount of money before the doctors can start treatment. Even if a particular sickness is diagnosed, most patients find it difficult to buy the prescribed drugs.
The high level of unemployment can be attributed to for the high level of poverty prevailing in the country. Unemployment refers to a situation whereby qualified and employable able-bodied adults are not employed due to non-availability of job opportunities. Going by statistics, there has been a steady increase in the number of unemployed adults or youths in Nigeria such that the growing army of unemployed youths has been identified as one of the potential threats to the security and survival of the nation. An unemployed individual that find it difficult to eat two-square meals a day easily falls prey to sickness and disease.
According to Monday Igbafen in his Basic Issues And Theories in philosophy of Development, “ poverty is a persistent feature of underdeveloped or developing countries. For instance, poverty in Nigeria has risen by 21 per cent between 1999 and 2002, an average of seven percent rise for each year in the past few years. As at 1998 about 50 million Nigerians or 45.5 per cent of the Nigerian population lived under poverty level. But between 1998 and now. The number of Nigerians living below poverty line has risen to about 70 million people.”
One way therefore of averting poverty is the creation of jobs for employable youths and adults. It is a prima facie that government cannot provide all the jobs, but she can help provide conducive environment for private companies to thrive, this then will bring about employment creation in the country. Individuals that are gainfully employed can take care of their health needs.
Another way the government can help in taking care of the health needs of the people is by subsidizing drugs in the dispensaries. This will make it possible for any sick person to easily purchase drugs.
Furthermore, the bureaucratic procedures followed in the government hospitals before a patient could see a medical doctor should be reduced. Some patients even collapsed before it gets to their turn to see the doctor. This is as a result of the long hours he has been waiting.
Finally, the social security scheme like the Nigerian Health Insurance Scheme ( NHIS) should be extended to the minimally advantaged people in the country. This is therefore a call for Nigeria to review her micro health allocations policy.
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