Health system responses and capacities for COVID-19 in Nigeria: A scoping review

Background: Nigeria is in short supply of health workforce and equipment needed to manage the infected COVID-19 individuals. The rate of occurrence of new cases of infection has the capacity to further deplete the human resources in the sector, putting a dent in the fight against the spread of the virus. This study aims to determine the capacity of Nigerian health systems to respond to COVID-19. Materials and Methods: This was a scoping review of media documents, official documents and journals, published from 1st December 2019 to 31st December 2021. Online media reports were sourced from major newspapers on FACTIVA (Vanguard, Punch, Guardian, The Nation, Business Day, and Premium Times) that reported national and state level health system responses to COVID-19. We also reviewed other online news sources that have consistently reported health systems response to COVID-19 in Nigeria. Some of these are Nigeria Health Watch, APO Africa Newsroom, Federal Ministry of Health newsletter, and national media. Results: By December 31st, 2020, Nigeria had 70 free laboratories controlled by the government. These comprised 31 federal laboratories, 30 state, 3 military, 2 Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), 2 UN and 2 private labs. In 2019, Nigeria's IHR score at point of entry 1 & 2 was 3 and 1. Routine capacities established at points of entry was improved, however, effective public health response at point of entry, remained the same. Which supports the low response capacity of the country. Nigeria's average score across the JEE 2019 had increased to 7% (from 39% in 2017 to 46% in 2019) - four new indicators and 20 indicators with improved scores from 2017. Conclusion: Nigeria's health system response and capacity to handle COVID-19 is quite poor and grossly inadequate. There is a need to increase the number of health workforce in the country and institute adequate accountability mechanisms to ensure prudent and focused management of health funds.