Building Nigeria’s modern healthcare system: a local clinical governance approach

Caring for 3 million patients with less than £2 per person

Imagine that one day you are a general practitioner with a special interest (GPwSI) working in the modern, relatively well-resourced NHS in the UK, and the next you are responsible for the health of three million people in one of the poorest states in Nigeria – Cross River. Child mortality is at 20 per cent and maternal mortality at 1 per cent; childhood routine immunisation rates are under 20 per cent; sudden unexplained death of middle-aged people is frequent; obesity is increasing; lack of physical activity is becoming the norm; and the attraction to ‘fast food’ and smoking are on the increase. You have just 52 doctors (only one specialist – a gynaecologist) and 1,000 midwives and nurses. And you are facing this challenge in a country where power cuts are ubiquitous and everything is a struggle. You have to care for three million people with 1.3 billion naira – the equivalent of £5.3m; €6m; or US$8.5m. That’s less than £2 per head.

Could you cope? Where would you start?

Nigerian born Professor Joseph Ana, on invitation, returned to his home state of Cross River after 22 years in the UK, to find Nigeria’s healthcare ‘poor and non-functional’. But, during four years as State Commissioner for Health, he went about rebooting the failing health system.

“[Joseph Ana] made healthcare accessible to everyone in the state. Too often there was trial and error in our medical system. But [Ana] changed that with clinical governance, and he brought quality and quantity.” Donald Duke, former Executive Governor (1999-2007), Cross River State, Nigeria

Professor Joseph Ana’s talk will describe how he went about tackling his new job: how to rebuild a shattered African health system. This is a story of a great endeavour.

About the speaker: Professor Joseph Ana

Professor Joseph Ana received his basic medical training in Nigeria. He relocated to the UK in 1982 where he honed his skills as a general surgeon and urologist. He further qualified as a GP with a Special Interest and was Partner, Trainer and Clinical Governance Lead in Europa House Surgery, Leighton Buzzard for eleven years. Professor Ana’s academic career spans over three and a half decades. He is the Lead Senior Fellow at the Africa Centre for Clinical Governance Research and Patient Safety in Calabar, Nigeria. He worked as Reader in the Faculty of Health Sciences of Cross River University of Technology, Calabar. Before that as an accredited trainer of the Royal College of General Practitioners UK, he taught, trained, supervised and mentored numerous medical students, GP Registrars and junior faculty. As the pioneer Managing Editor and later Editor-in-Chief of The BMJ West Africa edition he organised and actively lectured in over 100 capacity-building clinical and writing workshops locally in Nigeria and internationally across West Africa from 1996 to date. He is an ardent promoter of the dictum, ‘Learning Never Stops’. In 2004, the governor of Cross River, Donald Duke, offered him the challenging opportunity to lead the state’s Ministry of Health and revamp public health services.

Join us

We hope that you will be able join us from 8:30am until 10:30am on Wednesday 9 May at CAN Mezzanine, 7-14 Great Dover Street, London SE1 4YR.

There will be opportunities for networking and a healthy breakfast will be available from 8:00am.

Questions or problems registering? Please contact communications@c3health.org

Our sponsors

C3’s 2018 series of International Breakfast Seminars is supported by:

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