NNT Elimination and the Nigeria��s Health System: Where is the Missing Link

Abstract

In 1994 when the global neonatal tetanus (NNT) elimination campaign started gaining momentum, there were 104 out of the 161 developing countries that achieved the NNT elimination in 2000 with 24 other countries close to achieving. Nigeria is among the remaining countries that are yet to achieve the global NNT elimination target as set by the WHO. Although Nigeria plays a strategic role on the African continent, the government has failed to uphold the goals of the universal basic primary health care; this made the healthcare system operating below the minimum expected standard. The problems are more pronounced in the public health sector where there is a lack of timely information to combat infectious and communicable diseases, inadequate tracking of disease outbreaks to adequately treat and preventive further spread, poor surveillance and infectious disease tracking procedures; the adverse of all these would be health insecurity potentially endangering our security as a nation.