🌍Costly Essentials

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Soaring cost of essential medications puts Nigerians’ health at risk.

While being the least likely to cause a protest, especially when sandwiched between its twin sisters; food and transportation, medications (and their cost) have certainly bandwagoned on a rise beyond the reach of many Nigerians, and now, even essential drugs are starting to look more like a splurge.

It’s no news that Nigeria(despite not being in a recession) is suffering its worst inflationary pressures in decades, affecting up to medications routinely used to treat common illnesses like asthma & malaria.

World Bank reports that drugs treating chronic conditions like hypertension have surged in cost by about 70% since 2020. Antimalarials and antibiotics have each recorded cost surges above 50%, with diabetic medications being the most brutal hit with price hikes of close to 100%.

A compound issue?

Don’t be fooled thinking that the average Nigerian is the only one holding the short end of the stick. The situation has most healthcare players licking one wound or the other:

• Private insurers have seen their margins fold in faster than quicksand as frequent price changes eat away at the fixed annual premiums they collect.

• Two multinational companies, notably GSK, have exited the country in the past year due to reduced profitability.

• Nigeria’s health reimbursement scheme, the NHIA, is currently planning to raise the monthly premiums for its members to improve coverage options.

Alternatives someone? While treated mosquito nets are undoubtedly having a renaissance moment, people have had to resort to more unconventional ways of managing illness, like drinking warm water to prevent asthmatic attacks or deliberately underdosing so the medications last longer.

Looking ahead: Local manufacturers seem to be ramping up activity to bridge the supply gap of these medications. Nigerian behemoth Emzor Pharmaceuticals recently secured $23 million in funding to complete its manufacturing facility, where it intends to produce raw materials used in antimalarials. -CU.