Nigeria sets out to build a healthcare system that can stand on its own

Building on two decades of international cooperation and recent reforms, Nigeria is strengthening its healthcare system through increased domestic investment and greater national ownership. 

For more than two decades, international cooperation has played an important role in improving healthcare across Nigeria. 

Through partnerships with the United States, including the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the President’s Malaria Initiative and support channelled through the Global Fund and GAVI, millions of Nigerians have benefited from essential treatments, vaccination programmes and stronger disease prevention systems. These efforts have saved lives, expanded access to essential healthcare and laid the groundwork for lasting improvements in public health. 

Nigeria now wants to build on that progress while relying more on its own resources to fund and deliver care. 

As Muhammad Ali Pate, Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare stated, “No country of our size can indefinitely finance essential health services through external assistance.” The aim is to preserve what decades of cooperation have achieved, while giving Nigerian institutions and domestic funding a greater role in sustaining essential services and ensuring that national health priorities remain firmly in Nigerian hands. 

A transition already underway

Nigeria had already set this transition in motion in December 2023, when President Bola Ahmed Tinubu introduced the Nigeria Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative and the Health Sector Renewal Compact, to bring greater coordination to the health sector. By bringing government authorities and partners around shared priorities, these reforms aim to reduce overlapping efforts, make better use of funding and improve how health services are delivered.

The health agreement signed with the United States in December 2025 builds on these reforms. With nearly $2bn in planned US funding and close to $3bn in additional Nigerian investment through 2030, it aims to preserve access to essential treatments for HIV, tuberculosis and malaria, while gradually increasing Nigeria’s role in financing and managing healthcare services. The agreement also covers laboratories, disease surveillance and frontline care.

As Minister Muhammad Ali Pate explained, “Nigeria will continue to work with the United States and other partners in pursuit of shared health, security and development objectives, while strengthening the domestic foundations on which lasting progress depends.” 

The long-term ambition is equally clear: “a health system financed increasingly by Nigeria, governed through Nigerian institutions and able to sustain better outcomes for Nigerians.”

Bringing better healthcare closer to families 

For Nigerian families, the significance of these reforms lies in what they change on the ground. According to recent government figures, more than 14,000 primary health centres are now functional nationwide, while over 78,000 frontline health workers have been trained. For patients, this could mean better access to care closer to home, reducing the need to travel long distances for basic treatment.

Maternal care is another area where improvements are being recorded. Around 750,000 women have been connected to antenatal care across 172 priority local government areas, while participating maternal health facilities have recorded a 22% reduction in case fatality rates.

Prevention and financial protection are also expanding. Approximately 103 million children have been reached through measles-rubella vaccination efforts, while more than 23 million Nigerians are now enrolled in health insurance. The figures point to a wider effort to make care easier to access and less costly for households.

Nigeria’s commitment to building a more sustainable healthcare system is already taking shape. In 2025, the federal health budget increased by nearly 60%, raising healthcare’s share of the national budget from just over 3% to 5.2%. 

Yet beyond these financial commitments, the true measure of progress will be felt in the everyday lives of Nigerian families: a functioning clinic, essential medicines within reach and affordable treatment when it matters most. The ambition now is to turn this growing national investment into lasting improvements in care, until every family can feel the difference.

By Eric Topona, Journalist covering political and geopolitical affairs across Africa and globally 

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