FG revitalises 4,434 PHCs, retrains 78,000 health workers

The Federal Government has revitalised no fewer than 4,434 primary healthcare centres across the country and retrained more than 78,000 frontline health workers, while health insurance coverage has increased to 23.02 million Nigerians as part of efforts to improve access to quality and affordable healthcare.

The Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr Muyi Aina, and the Director-General of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Dr Kelechi Ohiri, disclosed this at the NPHCDA quarterly media briefing on Thursday in Abuja.

Aina said 3,526 of the facilities had been fully renovated, commissioned and handed over to states and local governments, while construction and refurbishment work was ongoing at 91 others.

He explained that the overall revitalisation programme involved the Federal Government, state governments, development partners and other stakeholders, noting that the agency was working to expand access to functional primary healthcare services across the country.

“We are not at the end, we are not even close to the end yet, but we have made remarkable progress,” Aina said.

He disclosed that the number of Level Two primary healthcare centres had increased by more than 59 per cent compared with March 2024, when the agency began tracking progress, adding that 53 per cent of approximately 27,000 primary healthcare centres were functioning at either Level One or Level Two.

According to him, the agency is targeting a Level Two facility in every ward, alongside an adequate number of Level One facilities, to improve access to essential health services, particularly in underserved communities.

Aina said the revitalisation programme included the provision of reliable electricity, water and sanitation facilities, with solar power installations and boreholes being deployed to improve the functionality of health centres.

He added that the NPHCDA had directly equipped more than 500 primary healthcare centres through the Federal Government, while state governments and development partners had supported additional facilities.

On health workforce development, Aina said the Federal Government had retrained more than 78,000 skilled birth attendants towards President Bola Tinubu’s target of retraining 120,000 frontline health workers.

He added that the agency was commencing the retraining of about 23,000 community-based health workers to extend healthcare services to remote communities where access to conventional health facilities remained limited.

The NPHCDA chief stressed that the responsibility for the day-to-day operation and maintenance of primary healthcare centres rested primarily with state and local governments.

“The National Primary Health Care Development Agency, as an arm of the Federal Ministry of Health, is responsible for the definition of primary healthcare, not for the delivery of primary healthcare,” he said.

He urged state governments to invest more in maintaining the revitalised facilities and employing health workers on a permanent basis, noting that the Federal Government’s interventions were intended to strengthen, rather than replace, the responsibilities of subnational authorities.

Aina said the interventions were already contributing to increased utilisation of primary healthcare services, with quarterly patient contacts rising from about 33 million to between 43 million and 45 million, after peaking at 46 million in 2025.

He added that quarterly first antenatal care visits had increased from 1.6 million to 1.8 million, while the number of women attending at least four antenatal care visits rose from 598,000 in 2023 to approximately 830,000 in 2025.

According to him, quarterly deliveries attended by skilled birth attendants also increased from 483,000 in 2023 to about 700,000 in 2025.

On maternal and newborn health, Aina said 773,200 pregnant women had been linked to primary healthcare centres and were being tracked under the Maternal and Neonatal Mortality Reduction Initiative.

He said the programme, which initially targeted 172 high-burden local government areas, was designed to support pregnant women throughout pregnancy, delivery and the immediate postnatal period through case management, referrals and access to essential services.

Aina disclosed that facility-based maternal mortality in the targeted local government areas had declined by 17 per cent between the baseline period and one year after implementation.

He described the reduction as encouraging but insufficient, given the country’s high maternal mortality burden, adding that further progress was expected as the programme expanded.

The NPHCDA executive director also disclosed that more than 18.3 million girls had received the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, while the meningitis vaccine had reached more than 102 million children aged between nine months and 14 years.

He said 882,000 children in Kebbi, Bayelsa, Ondo and Bauchi states had received the first dose of the malaria vaccine, with the agency working to improve completion of the four-dose schedule.

Aina, however, expressed concern over diphtheria outbreaks in several states, attributing the continued spread largely to gaps in routine immunisation.

“Over 90 per cent, I think 93 per cent, of the children had not received the full complement of vaccines that they should receive,” he said.

He said confirmed diphtheria-related deaths had been reported in 25 states, including the Federal Capital Territory, with Katsina, Kano, Plateau, Sokoto and Yobe among the states heavily affected.

According to him, the NPHCDA was working with the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention and state governments to respond to the outbreaks, adding that more than 1.5 million doses of pentavalent vaccine and 2.6 million doses of tetanus-diphtheria vaccine had been supplied to states.

He urged parents and caregivers to ensure that their children received the recommended vaccines, warning that misinformation and vaccine hesitancy were undermining efforts to prevent vaccine-preventable diseases.

On healthcare financing, Aina said the Federal Government had approved an additional N40 billion through the Basic Health Care Provision Fund to support healthcare delivery, essential supplies, health security and emergency medical transportation.

He said facilities receiving funding through the scheme served at least four times as many patients per facility as those not receiving the funds.

The agency, he added, was working to expand the number of facilities benefiting from the fund from 8,300 to 13,512.

In his remarks, the NHIA Director-General, Ohiri, said the number of Nigerians covered by health insurance had increased by 42 per cent, from approximately 16 million in January 2024 to 23.02 million.

He disclosed that 3.18 million of those covered were poor and vulnerable Nigerians whose insurance premiums were paid by the government through the Basic Health Care Provision Fund.

Ohiri said the National Health Insurance Authority Act of 2022 made health insurance mandatory for all Nigerian residents, but stressed that effective implementation required enforcement, public awareness and improved confidence in the system.

“The second thing that has to be in place is that we need more awareness, first to understand what insurance means, but also to educate Nigerians on what is available to them,” he said.

He identified high out-of-pocket healthcare expenditure as a major challenge, noting that many Nigerians remained vulnerable to poverty because of the cost of treating illnesses.

Ohiri said the authority was strengthening enforcement against healthcare providers and health maintenance organisations that denied enrollees services covered by their insurance plans.

He disclosed that the NHIA had secured refunds for patients who were improperly charged for covered services, issued warnings and delisted facilities where necessary, adding that complaints were investigated before sanctions were imposed.

The NHIA chief said the authority was also introducing measures to help enrollees understand and enforce their rights, including QR codes for checking covered services and a 24-hour call centre for complaints and clarification.

On expanding access to health insurance, Ohiri said the authority was working with relevant ministries and agencies to develop coverage options for app-based workers, delivery personnel and other self-employed Nigerians who might not have employers to pay their premiums.

He added that the authority was working to extend financial protection to inmates in correctional facilities following approval by the Ministerial Oversight Committee.

According to him, the implementation would begin with an assessment and accreditation of healthcare facilities serving inmates, verification of eligible beneficiaries through their National Identification Numbers and assignment to appropriate primary healthcare and referral facilities.

Ohiri said the authority would continue collaborating with state governments, healthcare providers, civil society organisations and the media to expand enrolment, improve accountability and ensure that Nigerians receive the healthcare services covered by their insurance plans.

Both officials called for stronger collaboration among the three tiers of government and other stakeholders to sustain improvements in primary healthcare delivery, expand financial protection and reduce preventable deaths.