Abstract
In Nigeria, Universal health coverage has been sub-optimal due to limited access and inequality. This is worsened by poor health-seeking behavior due to out-of-pocket expenditure health system financing being practiced by a greater percentage of the population. However, leveraging on the increasing population of Nigerian’s using communication technologies provides a viable and robust platform for improving patient’s care. Consequently, tele-health initiative provides a complementary approach to improving access to quality health and universal health system coverage. Tele-health initiative is Abia state’s input in progressing the Universal Health Coverage mandate of the Federal Government of Nigeria, anchored on the e-Health policy of Nigeria, after its adoption at the 58th NCH in Sokoto in 2016, of which Abia became the pioneer state for the Project. Abia state’s telecommunication market caters to almost 3.5 million active subscribers, making it the single largest provider of services in the state. Objective: The project is designed to ascertain the impact of the tele-health initiative on healthcare service coverage in Abia State. Methodology: This is a descriptive study with the quantitative and qualitative arm. The study was conducted in all the seventeen local government areas in the State. Result: 29,488 incoming calls were related to general health inquiries about basic information, counseling, and support that improved callers’ knowledge and attitude towards their health, concerns, and symptoms. Also, 66.8% of all calls (19,382) were for routine health information, complaints on mild everyday symptoms, chronic disease management, and follow-up care. About 29.6% of total calls (8751) were made by persons seeking information on socially stigmatizing topics and conditions.
Highlights
The Abia State Tele-Health Initiative is an indigenous initiative that leverages simple and available telecommunication technology to improve access to quality health care and universal coverage of services, the term “Tele-health” [1]
In Abia state like most states in Nigeria, healthcare follows a three-tier system: Primary healthcare service catering to the basic health care needs of the rural population, secondary healthcare for mid-level clinical problems, and tertiary for highly specialized medical challenges [7]
The most common application of Tele-Health is the use of telecommunication technologies like simple telephones to support individuals and institutions on both personal and population health maintenance, preventive, rehabilitative, and curative health care, by creating easy access to reliable health information, transferring content not casualties, moving potentials not patients
Summary
The Abia State Tele-Health Initiative is an indigenous initiative that leverages simple and available telecommunication technology to improve access to quality health care and universal coverage of services, the term “Tele-health” [1]. The current access (35% - 45%) to basic healthcare services in Nigeria pales in comparison to the exponential growth being witnessed in the telecommunication sector (110%) [4]. In Abia state like most states in Nigeria, healthcare follows a three-tier system: Primary healthcare service catering to the basic health care needs of the rural population, secondary healthcare for mid-level clinical problems, and tertiary for highly specialized medical challenges [7]. The question of the day is “Can Virtual Healthcare Support Services Address Our Current Healthcare Challenges of Inadequate Access, Poor Outcome, and Insufficient Coverage?”
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