NATIONAL HEALTH POLICY 2016

Abstract

The National Health Policy and Strategy to Achieve Health for All Nigerians launched in 1988, was Nigeria’s first comprehensive national health policy. This was subsequently revised in 2004. However, it has become necessary to develop a new national health policy to reflect new realities and trends, including the unfinished agenda of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), emerging health issues (especially epidemics), the provisions of the National Health Act 2014, the new PHC governance reform of bringing PHC Under One Roof (PHCUOR), and Nigeria’s renewed commitment to universal health coverage. It has also become imperative to develop strategies to respond adequately to globalization, climate change, and the challenges of insurgency and its impact on the Nigerian health system. In addition, the country’s experiences in the implementation of the Revised National Health Policy 2004 and the National Strategic Health Development Plan (2010-2015) have provided a basis for the development of a new National Health Policy. This new health policy comes at an opportune time, following the passage of the National Health Act 2014.