The Niger State Contributory Health Agency (NiCare) has commenced discussions with the Civil Society on Malaria Control, Immunization and Nutrition towards strengthening strategic collaboration for the expansion of health insurance coverage and improved access to affordable and quality healthcare services across Niger State.
The engagement, which took place during an advocacy visit by the civil society coalition to NiCare, focused on strategies for improving enrolment, particularly among vulnerable populations and workers in the informal sector, while strengthening community-level demand creation and stakeholder coordination.
Representing the Executive Secretary of NiCare, the Director of Health Planning, Research and Statistics, Pharm. Abdul Musa, reiterated the Agency’s commitment to constructive partnerships with civil society organisations and other relevant stakeholders. He noted that sustained multi-sectoral collaboration is critical to addressing barriers to health insurance uptake and accelerating progress towards universal health coverage in the state.
The State Coordinator of the coalition, Kalejaiye Olasunkami, expressed the coalition’s willingness to support NiCare’s enrolment drive through community-based advocacy, mobilisation and engagement of existing grassroots structures. He emphasised the importance of leveraging civil society networks to reach underserved, vulnerable and informal-sector populations that may otherwise remain outside the formal health insurance system.
During the engagement, the coalition commended NiCare’s ongoing efforts to expand coverage but identified low utilisation of services at some healthcare facilities as an area requiring further attention. Concerns were also raised regarding the equitable allocation and enrolment of the additional 65,000 vulnerable persons targeted across the state’s 25 Local Government Areas (LGAs).
In response, the Director of Operations, Pharm. Attahiru Shehu Malagi, explained that the allocation of vulnerable beneficiaries is based on the established vulnerability index, which provides an evidence-informed basis for determining beneficiary distribution across the LGAs. He further clarified that the concentration of Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) enrollees at primary healthcare centres is consistent with the operational framework of the programme and the role of PHCs as the first point of contact within the healthcare delivery system.
The Head of Informal Sector, Haj. Habiba Lami Umar, highlighted operational challenges associated with the identification and enrolment of vulnerable populations. She particularly noted the requirement for a National Identification Number (NIN) as one of the factors that may affect the enrolment process for some prospective beneficiaries. She therefore called for intensified public awareness and community sensitisation to improve understanding of enrolment requirements and facilitate access to health insurance schemes.
The discussions also underscored the need to strengthen the linkage between health insurance enrolment, beneficiary identification, service utilisation and community-level accountability mechanisms. Improved coordination among NiCare, civil society organisations, community structures and other implementing stakeholders was identified as essential to addressing enrolment barriers and improving effective coverage.
As an immediate follow-up, NiCare will provide the coalition with updated enrolment data across the 25 LGAs. The Agency will also participate in the forthcoming CSO coordination meeting scheduled for two weeks’ time, where both parties are expected to develop specific and measurable areas of collaboration.
The proposed collaboration is expected to strengthen demand generation and community mobilisation, improve identification and enrolment of vulnerable and informal-sector populations, address barriers to health insurance uptake, and ultimately contribute to increased effective health insurance coverage and improved access to quality healthcare services across Niger State.
