Highlighting the current state of the Nigeria health system post COVID-19: positive impacts, current challenges and recommendations

Over the years, the Nigeria health system (NHS) has experienced several dynamics that have influenced the health system either positively or negatively. The COVID-19 pandemic revealed the weaknesses of the NHS to the detriment of the lives of Nigerian citizens. This has attracted the attention of the Nigerian government, several stakeholders, external health organizations, and foreign governments leading to various interventions that have improved the NHS. Such interventions include the establishment of more public health laboratories across the country, increase in health budget allocation to 4.08%, 4.47%, 5.18% in 2021, 2024 and 2025 respectively, and increased partnership with foreign governments, among others. However, some persisting issues of concern still need to be addressed which include the rising issue of brain drain in Nigeria which has caused the country to operate at a physician-to-population ratio of 4 doctors per 10,000 people as against the World Health Organization recommendation, the need to increase the health sector budgetary allocation to meet the Abuja 15% declaration and also tackle the deep-rooted corruption that undermines the effectiveness of health reforms. The government needs to strengthen the mechanisms for monitoring activities within the health system for proper allocation and utilization of resources. Regular reviews and audits would help to combat corruption that continues to plague the health sector. Health workers should be motivated and provided with desirable working environments. This will help to minimize the rate of brain drain and recurrent industrial actions, which are significant obstacles to attaining a sustainable health system.