The Nigeria health sector and human resource challenges

Abstract

The Nigeria's health system is in a poor state and this is traceable to several factors especially the gross under-funding of the health sector and shortage of skilled medical personnel at the primary health care level. Nigeria is one of the several major health-staff-exporting countries in Africa. As a result of inadequate infrastructure and poor compensation packages, a sizeable number of physicians, nurses and other medical professionals are lured away to developed countries in search of fulfilling and lucrative positions. Related to brain drain is the problem of geographical distribution of health care professionals. There is a disproportionate concentration of medical professionals in urban areas. Health workers in under served areas usually have motivational problems at work which may be reflected in a variety of circumstances, but common manifestations include: lack of courtesy to patients; failure to turn up at work on time and high levels of absenteeism; poor process quality such as failure to conduct proper patient examinations and; failure to treat patients in a timely manner. These challenges can be addressed by increased funding of the health sector and the introduction of multiple incentives to health workers to make working in unattractive areas more appealing.