Comparative Health Law and Policy

Iyioha, Irehobhude O.; Nwabueze, Remigius N.

doi:10.4324/9781315573083

Cited by 7 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…The private sector comprises private hospitals, a minority of qualified pharmacists and a large proportion of illegal and unqualified medicine peddlers without the most minimal training [14, 23, 24]. Although the private sector contributes a substantial proportion to the overall health delivery in Nigeria [25], their services are mainly for-profit.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Overdependence on For-Profit Pharmacies: A Descriptive Survey of User Evaluation of Medicines Availability in Public Hospitals in Selected Nigerian States

2016

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ObjectiveLower availability of medicines in Nigerian public health facilities—the most affordable option for the masses—undermines global health reforms to improve access to health for all, especially the chronically ill and poor. Thus, a sizeable proportion of healthcare users, irrespective of purchasing power, buy medicines at higher costs from for-profit pharmacies. We examined user evaluation of medicine availability in public facilities and how this influences their choice of where to buy medicines in selected states—Cross River, Enugu and Oyo—in Nigeria.MethodsWe approached and interviewed 1711 healthcare users using a semi-structured, interviewer-administered questionnaire as they exited for-profit pharmacies after purchasing medicines. This ensured that both clients who had presented at health facilities (private/public) and those who did not were included. Information was collected on why respondents could not buy medicines at the hospitals they attended, their views of medicine availability and whether their choice of where to buy medicines is influenced by non-availability.Principal FindingsRespondents’ mean age was 37.7±14.4 years; 52% were males, 59% were married, 82% earned ≥NGN18, 000 (US$57.19) per month, and 72% were not insured. Majority (66%) had prescriptions; of this, 70% were from public facilities. Eighteen percent of all respondents indicated that all their medicines were usually available at the public facilities, most (29%), some (44%) and not always available (10%). Reasons for using for-profit pharmacies included: health workers attitudes (43%), referral by providers (43%); inadequate money to purchase all prescribed drugs (42%) and cumbersome processes for obtaining medicines.ConclusionsLower availability of medicines has serious implications for healthcare behavior, especially because of poverty. It is crucial for government to fulfill its mandate of equitable access to care for all by making medicines available and cheap through reviving and sustaining the drug revolving fund scheme and encouraging the prescription of generic drugs in all public health facilities.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Overdependence on For-Profit Pharmacies: A Descriptive Survey of User Evaluation of Medicines Availability in Public Hospitals in Selected Nigerian States

2016

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“…However, some writers have suggested that the problems with self-regulation can be circumvented by separating the regulatory and professional divisions of the profession such that the regulatory division would undertake the task of promoting the interests of the profession and balancing those interests with the public interest in safety while it continues to operate separately from the broader professional group. 57 …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perception of Key Ethical Issues in Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) by Providers and Clients in Nigeria

Ezeome¹,

Akintola²,

Jegede³

et al. 2021

IJWH

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“…The defeat of the 2006 reproductive health bill in the Senate (largely because it was considered an abortion bill), and the 2013 repeal of a 2012 law that, among other things, had expanded the criteria for legal abortion in Imo state, exemplify the increasing level of social conservatism in Nigeria. 14 Moreover, in a 2009 study, nearly one-third of 49 Nigerian policymakers surveyed said that abortion should not be allowed even to save a woman’s life. 15 Because our respondents’ apparent misreporting of the number of abortions performed at their facility would have resulted in our overestimating the number of postabortion care patients treated in Nigeria, we adjusted their estimates in accordance with our experience from a similar study we had conducted (see Appendix, page 179).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Incidence of Abortion in Nigeria

Bankole¹,

Adewole²,

Hussain³

et al. 2015

International Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health

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CONTEXT-Because of Nigeria's low contraceptive prevalence, a substantial number of women have unintended pregnancies, many of which are resolved through clandestine abortion, despite the country's restrictive abortion law. Up-to-date estimates of abortion incidence are needed.METHODS-A widely used indirect methodology was used to estimate the incidence of abortion and unintended pregnancy in Nigeria in 2012. Data on provision of abortion and postabortion care were collected from a nationally representative sample of 772 health facilities, and estimates of the likelihood that women who have unsafe abortions experience complications and obtain treatment were collected from 194 health care professionals with a broad understanding of the abortion context in Nigeria.RESULTS-An estimated 1.25 million induced abortions occurred in Nigeria in 2012, equivalent to a rate of 33 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15-49. The estimated unintended pregnancy rate was 59 per 1,000 women aged 15-49. Fifty-six percent of unintended pregnancies were resolved by abortion. About 212,000 women were treated for complications of unsafe abortion, representing a treatment rate of 5.6 per 1,000 women of reproductive age, and an additional 285,000 experienced serious health consequences but did not receive the treatment they needed.CONCLUSION-Levels of unintended pregnancy and unsafe abortion continue to be high in Nigeria. Improvements in access to contraceptive services and in the provision of safe abortion and postabortion care services (as permitted by law) may help reduce maternal morbidity and mortality.Induced abortion is illegal in Nigeria except when performed to save a woman's life. Both the penal code, which is generally applied in the country's northern states, and the criminal code, which generally applies in the southern states, allow this exception, and both regions specify similar criminal penalties for noncompliance. 1 Yet pregnancy terminations are quite common, and because they are often performed clandestinely or by unskilled providers, most are unsafe. 2 The first national study to examine the incidence of abortion estimated that in 1996, about 610,000 abortions, or 25 per 1,000 women aged occurred in Nigeria. 3 Author contact: abankole@guttmacher.org. HHS Public Access Author Manuscript Author ManuscriptAuthor Manuscript Author ManuscriptA decade later, another study noted that if the abortion rate had not changed since 1996, then 760,000 abortions would have occurred in 2006, given the increase in Nigeria's population during this period. 4 Since the release of the 1996 estimates, the Nigerian government and other stakeholders have initiated a number of policies and programs to improve the reproductive health of women in the country. Notable among them are the government's efforts to achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, including Goal 5, to improve maternal health. This goal has two targets: to reduce the maternal mortality ratio by 75% between 1990 and 2015, and to provide universal access...

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Comparative Health Law and Policy

Cited by 7 publications

References 0 publications

Overdependence on For-Profit Pharmacies: A Descriptive Survey of User Evaluation of Medicines Availability in Public Hospitals in Selected Nigerian States

Overdependence on For-Profit Pharmacies: A Descriptive Survey of User Evaluation of Medicines Availability in Public Hospitals in Selected Nigerian States

Perception of Key Ethical Issues in Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) by Providers and Clients in Nigeria

The Incidence of Abortion in Nigeria

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