AN EVALUATION OF THE NATIONAL POLICY ON PRIMARY HEALTHCARE IN NIGERIA: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

This present research work saddled to evaluate the national policy on primary healthcare (PHC) in Nigeria through reviewing secondary sourced data. The paper was formulated in four components. The first component highlights the evolutionary trends of primary healthcare in Nigeria, the past and present act regulating the PHC and financing were discussed in the second components. Meanwhile, present state of primary health care in Nigeria constituted the third aspect while challenges facing the PHC in Nigeria were also discussed. It could be concluded that poor domestic operations of the primary healthcare exist to the extent of depending on international donors for the service delivery for the people in the country compared with past due to poor financing, inadequate provision of facilities and mismanagement. Thus, PHC is crucial for the realization of health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which are in turn inextricably linked with the other SDGs such as ending poverty, inclusive education, work and economic growth, reducing inequality and climate action. It is therefore suggested that adequate financing, provision of facilities and effective management should be adopted for sustainable development