As Nigeria continues to navigate challenges relating to healthcare financing, workforce migration and equitable access to care, stakeholders in the health sector have emphasized the need to advance practical solutions for scaling successful digital innovations to build a stronger and more resilient health system in the country.

Experts called for a shift from pilot projects to projects that have national impact

They made the call at the Future of Health Conference organised by Nigeria Health Watch, which brought together policymakers, innovators, researchers and development partners to examine how existing policies, innovations, and partnerships can translate into measurable improvements in Nigeria’s health system.

Speaking at the event, the Director General of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Dr Kelechi Ohiri said Nigeria must rethink how it finances, organises and delivers healthcare in response to changing disease patterns, persistent poverty and disruptions in global health financing.

He noted that Nigeria continues to battle infectious diseases and high mortality rates while facing a growing burden of non-communicable diseases, creating additional pressure on an already constrained healthcare system.

Ohiri noted that Nigeria must develop an innovation ecosystem that supports home-grown research, evaluates promising interventions and creates clear pathways for successful solutions to be adopted at scale

According to him, innovation must therefore extend beyond medical devices and technology to include financing models, service delivery, governance, research and the organisation of primary healthcare.

“Digital health is now,” he said, arguing that countries can no longer afford to postpone reforms while waiting for future technologies or external solutions.

Ohiri stated that the NHIA had begun supporting locally driven research in partnership with health policy stakeholders, while also establishing a health technology assessment mechanism to help determine which innovations offer the greatest value and potential impact for Nigerians.

He added that sustainable healthcare reform required stronger government leadership, improved accountability and coordinated action across federal and state governments, private healthcare providers, researchers and development partners.

The NHIA boss noted that Nigeria’s quest to reduce maternal deaths and expand access to affordable healthcare is gaining momentum, with about 90,000 women benefiting from the agency’s emergency obstetric care intervention in the last 18 months.

Ohiri said the intervention was designed to address a critical gap in Nigeria’s healthcare system, where women experiencing life-threatening complications during childbirth are sometimes unable to access emergency treatment because they cannot afford the upfront costs.

He explained that the programme provides financing for emergency obstetric care, enabling women experiencing complications to receive treatment without being turned away because of an inability to pay.

According to him, the initiative demonstrates how targeted financing, effective partnerships and responsive health policies can prevent avoidable deaths and protect vulnerable households from catastrophic medical expenses.

Ohiri also disclosed that approximately 6,000 women had benefited from another intervention addressing a treatable but debilitating health condition, while about 70,000 people had been integrated into health insurance through collaborative initiatives with state governments.

He said these programmes formed part of broader efforts to move beyond fragmented, disease-specific interventions towards a more integrated healthcare system capable of meeting the needs of the entire population.

The DG said the authority was also working to expand insurance coverage, improve public awareness and strengthen trust in health insurance, noting that coverage must translate into access to treatment and protection against out-of-pocket expenditure.

He said Nigeria could not achieve universal health coverage if citizens continued to face financial barriers at the point of care, particularly during medical emergencies.

Ohiri said frontline health workers increasingly faced responsibilities extending beyond clinical care to include budget management, data reporting, community engagement and accountability for funds.

He argued that healthcare financing must therefore be accompanied by investments in institutional capacity and mechanisms that ensure resources reach the facilities and patients for whom they are intended.

Ohiri said Nigeria needed a health system shaped by the needs of its citizens, supported by local expertise and designed to protect the most vulnerable.

The urgency of these reforms was underscored by Dr Chidinma Anyanwu of Project HOPE, who presented a case illustrating how distance, financial hardship and inadequate diagnostic capacity can combine to turn a manageable pregnancy complication into a fatal emergency.

She described the experience of a rural woman, identified as Martha, who had no antenatal care during her second pregnancy because the nearest primary healthcare centre was about two hours away and she believed her previous experience of childbirth was sufficient.

When labour began, she reportedly laboured for more than eight hours before community members arranged her transfer to a primary healthcare facility. She was subsequently referred to a general hospital, another two hours away. By the time she arrived, she had lost blood, and efforts to stabilise her and deliver the baby were unsuccessful. Both mother and baby died.

Anyanwu said timely antenatal assessment, access to ultrasound and prompt referral could have identified the pregnancy complication and improved the chances of survival.

She stated that Project HOPE, working with government health authorities and other partners, has been strengthening the capacity of primary healthcare facilities in Kwara State to identify pregnancy complications earlier.

The initiative, according to her, supports 10 facilities, five of which serve as referral hubs with point-of-care ultrasound services, while the others function as spoke facilities that can refer women requiring additional assessment.

The programme also equips frontline health workers with diagnostic tools and training to improve the detection of high-risk pregnancies and accelerate clinical decision-making.

Anyanwu explained that healthcare workers undergo foundational online training, practical instruction and supervised scanning sessions involving pregnant women before receiving ongoing mentorship at their facilities.

They can also seek remote guidance from specialists through digital platforms, including WhatsApp and systems that allow scanned images to be shared for clarification.

She said the approach was intended to make essential diagnostic services available closer to rural communities, reducing the delays associated with long-distance referrals.

“It’s not just a classroom thing; it’s an ongoing thing,” she said, stressing that sustained mentorship and continuous workforce development were essential to maintaining quality.

Anyanwu called for stronger collaboration among health sector partners to expand the model, noting that no single organisation could address Nigeria’s maternal health challenges alone.

Earlier, the Managing Director of Nigeria Health Watch, Vivianne Ihekweazu, said the conference’s theme, From Innovation to Impact: The Future of Health Is Now,” reflects the need to move beyond discussions about future possibilities and focus on solutions that are already improving health outcomes.

She stated that innovations must respond to immediate healthcare challenges rather than remain confined to pilot projects or conference presentations.

According to her, Nigeria has considerable opportunities to use technology, private sector investment and partnerships to bridge gaps in healthcare access, particularly in underserved communities.

Ihekweazu noted that previous editions of the conference had examined issues including private sector participation in healthcare and the migration of Nigerian health workers, with discussions contributing to wider policy conversations.

She said the current focus was on identifying innovations that could be scaled sustainably, understanding the obstacles to their adoption and strengthening the systems required to deliver lasting results.

At a panel session on innovations that save lives, the Senior Adviser to the Director-General of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention on global HIV, strategic partnerships and health security, Dr Erasmus Morah, noted that healthcare innovation is saving lives across Africa, but warned that scientific breakthroughs alone are not enough to transform health outcomes without reliable data, political commitment, affordable services and active community participation.

Morah observed that changes in policy, research and healthcare delivery are helping to address longstanding challenges in Nigeria and other African countries and referenced Nigeria’s HIV response, where improved data helped reshape the understanding of the country’s epidemic and contributed to a significant rise in reported treatment coverage.

He recalled that HIV treatment coverage in Nigeria stood at about 33 per cent in 2017, amid concerns that the country’s data did not accurately reflect the number of people living with the virus.

According to him, the challenge was partly rooted in the denominator used to calculate treatment coverage.

Morah pointed out that coverage has since increased to between 85 and 86 per cent, attributing the progress to improvements in the HIV response, including the importance of more accurate data.

He noted that scientific and institutional systems must be open to scrutiny, adding that health innovations require people prepared to examine evidence critically and challenge assumptions that may no longer reflect reality.

Morah observed that the Nigerian experience demonstrates that innovation is not always about developing a new drug or medical device. Sometimes, it begins with asking whether the data guiding public health decisions are correct.

He advocated a shift towards provider-initiated testing and counselling, an approach that encourages healthcare workers to offer HIV testing as part of routine care, subject to informed consent and appropriate safeguards.

On her part, Dr Ify Aniebo, a molecular geneticist whose work focuses on malaria drug resistance, highlighted how molecular research and artificial intelligence are being deployed to improve understanding of malaria drug resistance in Nigeria.

Aniebo explained that research across 20 local government areas had revealed differences in malaria parasite resistance patterns and genetic profiles.

She said understanding these differences was essential to developing interventions tailored to the specific challenges facing different locations, rather than relying on a uniform approach across the country.

The research draws on more than 60,000 malaria parasite samples collected from the region, which are examined through laboratory testing, genetic analysis and computational tools to understand how parasites respond to medicines.

A key challenge has been the cost of DNA sequencing. Aniebo explained that sequencing one parasite sample previously cost about $150, making large-scale investigations prohibitively expensive.

She cited a collection of 10,000 samples between 2020 and 2021, which would have cost approximately $1.5 million to sequence at the earlier rate.

The research also uses artificial intelligence, machine learning and CRISPR-based techniques to investigate genetic variations and assess their possible implications for drug resistance.

Aniebo explained that computational models could help researchers identify mutations that warrant further laboratory investigation, potentially reducing the cost and time required to examine large numbers of genetic variations.

The panel also examined the role of digital technology and community-based screening in improving access to healthcare, particularly in areas where medical personnel and facilities are limited.

Ikechukwu Anoke of Zuri Health spoke about his ambition to make healthcare more accessible through a combination of technology, healthcare professionals, and community outreach.

He said his personal experience of a frightening medical emergency involving his newborn daughter inspired a promise to build a hospital. About two decades later, he fulfilled that ambition by establishing a hospital in Enugu.

For Anoke, the experience illustrates that innovation extends beyond technological devices to include the determination to turn ideas into practical solutions.

He said his organisation was exploring ways to connect patients with nurses and general practitioners through technology, making healthcare services more accessible to people who may struggle to reach conventional facilities.

One of the goals, he explained, was to reduce the cost of certain services, with a target of about N1,000 for some offerings, while using mobile technology to bring aspects of healthcare closer to patients.

He also highlighted the importance of preventive healthcare, particularly early screening for diseases that can be treated more effectively when detected promptly.

According to him, outreach programmes and medical camps have enabled his team to screen hundreds of thousands of people, identify individuals requiring further attention and connect them with doctors and other health services.

He said artificial intelligence could also support the assessment of health risks and help inform patient-care decisions, provided that such tools are integrated responsibly into healthcare delivery.

Anoke argued that Africa should not be viewed merely as a destination for imported health technologies but as a centre for developing, testing and scaling solutions that address its own needs.

“The future of healthcare must also be African,” he said, stressing that the continent has the talent and creativity to develop solutions capable of serving local populations and contributing to global health.

The discussions highlighted a common challenge facing health innovation across Africa: turning promising ideas into sustainable services that reach the people who need them most.

As the country confronts persistent maternal deaths, infectious diseases, rising chronic illnesses, and uncertainty in global health financing, participants stressed that innovation must be matched by sustained funding, effective implementation, and political commitment.