COVID‐19 calls for health systems strengthening in Africa: A case of Nigeria

Emmanuel Ebuka Elebesunu, Gabriel Ilerioluwa Oke, Yusuff Adebayo Adebisi and Ifeanyi McWilliams Nsofor

International Journal of Health Planning and Management, 2021, vol. 36, issue 6, 2035-2043

Abstract: The COVID‐19 pandemic has proven the need for countries worldwide to implement strategies that promote health systems strengthening and ensure epidemic preparedness. Many African countries are burdened by fragile healthcare systems, hence, this paper emphasises the need for African policymakers to improve healthcare quality in their countries. Through a brief review of various online literatures concerning health systems strengthening in Africa, this paper focuses on the nature of healthcare in Nigeria amidst the COVID‐19 pandemic. The major stress areas include COVID‐19 testing capacity, health workforce, infection prevention and control, health information and surveillance systems, health insurance, public‐private partnerships, and governance. The COVID‐19 pandemic has amplified several challenges ravaging Africa's already fragile healthcare systems, leaving the health sectors of most African countries ill‐prepared to deal with the pandemic. If Nigeria and many other African countries had invested sufficiently in strengthening their healthcare systems prior to COVID‐19, their pandemic response efforts would have been more effective. Health systems strengthening is necessary to ensure steady progress toward universal health coverage and global health security. Through health systems strengthening, Nigeria and other African countries can greatly improve their infection prevention and control measures.

Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1002/hpm.3296

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:ijhplm:v:36:y:2021:i:6:p:2035-2043

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.blackwell ... bs.asp?ref=0749-6753

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of Health Planning and Management is currently edited by Calum Paton

More articles in International Journal of Health Planning and Management from Wiley Blackwell
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().