AFRO-NETS> Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report-Fri, 13 Jul 2001

[Cecilia Snyder <csnyder@ccmc.org>]

Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report-Fri, 13 Jul 2001 
---------------------------------------------

Global Challenges
  
*Nigerian Government to Exclude People With HIV/AIDS from National
  Health Insurance Plan

The Nigerian government has drafted a plan for a national health
insurance program that would eventually provide coverage for "all
Nigerians," but certain individuals with "[h]igh-cost illnesses" such as
HIV/AIDS would not be eligible to join, the Lancet reports.  The
National Health Insurance Scheme aims to expand health coverage to
Nigerians by implementing a national program that would use the payments
of wealthier members to pay for care for low-income residents.  Under
the plan, enrollees would contribute 5% of their basic salary every
month while employers would contribute 10%.  The plan would extend
coverage to an employee's spouse and up to four children under the age
of 18, and all plan participants would receive identification cards.
The Lancet reports that this system would "pool resources" and allow for
"cross subsidization in the health sector."  However, individuals with
diseases such as HIV/AIDS and cancer will not be eligible to participate
in the plan.  

Treading Cautiously

Mustapha Sambo, executive secretary of the NHIS, said that the
"cost of treating these illnesses could wipe out everything that has
been collected." Anne Okigbo, a health specialist at the World Bank
office in Abuja, Nigeria, stated that the insurance plan is not aimed at
"stigmatiz[ing]" people with "terminal or debilitating diseases," but
added that the country needs to "tread cautiously" in developing the
plan.  The Lancet reports that "if Nigeria allows a heavy burden to be
placed on the scheme, it would run into a gridlock."  Ibironke Akinsete,
chair of the Nigerian Action Committee on AIDS, said that the group is
"not happy" that individuals with HIV/AIDS will be excluded from the
plan and plans to hold a workshop in Abuja to discuss policy issues
affecting people with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria. The Lancet reports that the
NHIS will be implemented in "phases," and Okigbo added that the system
is still "evolving," noting that other health insurance plans "had only
just started to provide cover[age] for people with HIV/AIDS." Although
the NHIS was scheduled to be launched last month, it will now likely
begin "about the end of the year," NHIS spokesperson Aisha Zakari said
(Okonkwo, Lancet, 7/14).


The Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a
free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, by National
Journal Group Inc.c 2001 by National Journal Group Inc. and Kaiser Family Foun-
dation. All rights reserved.

Contact Daily Reports Staff Editorial
Tel: 202-672-5952
Fax: 202-672-5767
mailto:dailyreports@kaisernetwork.org


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