A major public health milestone is on the horizon in Nigeria, as Society for Family Health (SFH) has pledged to enrol 1.9 million people living with HIV into the country’s national health insurance scheme.
The commitment was announced by SFH’s Managing Director, Omokhudu Idogho, in a statement made available on Friday. According to him, the organisation will partner with the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) in the next phase of implementation — a phase that will integrate HIV, tuberculosis (TB), and family‑planning (FP) services under the health insurance umbrella.
Under the plan, SFH and NHIA will work to map out accredited facilities nationwide that offer HIV, TB, and FP services. This mapping exercise is critical for ensuring that enrolled individuals have access to comprehensive care under the health insurance scheme. Additionally, SFH says it will support logistics and supply chains — including commodities needed for treatment — and help strengthen quality‑assurance systems to ensure adherence to national protocols and international best practices.
Idogho noted that this collaboration dates back to March 2023, when SFH and NHIA co‑convened a multi‑stakeholder workshop to define the HIV, TB and FP service packages to be integrated into the national health insurance plan. Following the workshop, the model developed was subjected to actuarial analysis — drawing from cost data collected across public and private facilities in Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones. The findings from that analysis helped revise the National Basic Minimum Package of Healthcare, paving the way for integration of these critical services.
The formal partnership between SFH and NHIA was cemented in February 2023 with a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), marking the beginning of what proponents describe as a significant step towards sustainable financing for HIV, TB, and family‑planning services in Nigeria. The move addresses concerns about declining donor funding and the need for domestic mechanisms that ensure continuous access to care for vulnerable populations.
Beyond enrolling people living with HIV, SFH’s plan also targets TB care: the organisation said the scheme will support the treatment of an estimated 500,000 annual TB cases under the insurance program. This integration is especially pertinent given the known overlap between HIV and TB, and the importance of coordinated care in preventing morbidity and mortality.
Public health experts and advocates hail the initiative as a key step toward achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) — ensuring that vulnerable and marginalized populations have access to essential health services without suffering financial hardship. According to SFH, the move signals the government’s readiness to sustain the fight against HIV and TB, while also expanding access to family‑planning services, even as traditional donor support wanes.
The scale of the commitment — nearly two million people — underlines both the severity of the HIV burden in Nigeria and the ambition of the policy response. With the integration into health insurance, people living with HIV will benefit from a continuum of care that spans prevention, treatment, and long-term support, packaged under one scheme.
However, successful implementation will hinge on robust logistic, supply‑chain, and quality‑assurance systems, as well as broad coverage of service points across the country. SFH’s pledge to support these facets aims to mitigate previous challenges that have hampered access to treatment and care.
In closing, the SFH–NHIA partnership represents a landmark effort to embed HIV and related services into Nigeria’s health financing architecture. If effectively rolled out, the initiative could significantly reduce out-of-pocket healthcare costs for people living with HIV, expand access to integrated services, and strengthen the nation’s overall response to HIV, TB, and reproductive health.
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