No region in Nigeria has 50% access to functional basic medical equipment – NBS report 

The survey highlights significant regional disparities, with the South-West leading at 48.8%, followed by the South-South at 43.7%, the North-East at 34.2%, the South-East at 32.3%, the North-Central at 22.8%, and the North-West at 20.9%.

The survey was conducted in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and supported by the World Bank.

The report identifies several key challenges contributing to these gaps, such as the lack of healthcare facilities in certain communities, outdated or broken equipment, inadequate medical personnel, poor quality of service, and an ineffective referral system.

A health facility mapping and listing exercise was conducted to create an up-to-date list of all health facilities in Nigeria, with 3,330 facilities randomly sampled across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The report revealed that 68% of Secondary Health Facilities (SHFs) and 29.9% of public Primary Health Facilities (PHFs) have functional basic medical equipment.

Basic medical equipment, as defined in the survey, includes weighing scales, thermometers, stethoscopes, blood pressure (BP) apparatus, and examination lights, all of which were considered available and functioning at the time of the survey.

The result shows that 18.5% of facilities had Family Planning pills, 19.5% had injectables, 20.5% had male condoms, and 17.8% had implants/Intrauterine devices (IUDs).

Regarding Antenatal Care (ANC) services, the average percentage of public health facilities providing ANC was 79.7%, with the highest in the South-South (88.9%) and the lowest in the North-West (67.9%).

Additionally, 94.0% of Primary Health Facilities provide iron supplements as part of ANC services, while 97.4% offer folic acid.

The survey also assessed the availability of essential drugs, defined as the percentage of essential drugs available and not expired in health facilities during the survey.