WORLD HEALTH DAY: CAPPA DEMANDS IMPROVED HEALTHCARE FUNDING, HEALTHY FOOD POLICIES

A nongovernmental organisation, Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) has renewed its call for governments at all levels to give adequate attention to healthcare funding in Nigeria. CAPPA also made a case for the adoption of healthy food policies to curb the exposure of Nigerians to unhealthy diets, which it observed are being aggressively promoted by the sugary drinks and ultra-processed industry. The group in a statement on the occasion of the 2025 World Health Day noted that the trends are worsening the country’s non-communicable diseases (NCDs) burden. With 2025 WHD theme as "Healthy Beginnings, Hopeful Futures", CAPPA noted that this year’s reflection provides an opportunity for the government to review and strengthen its healthy food systems so it can guarantee Nigerians’ access to nutritious food. According to the statement by Robert Egbe, Media and Communication Officer, CAPPA referenced data showing that Nigeria’s health indicators are in dire straits, with cases of NCDs, malnutrition, infectious diseases, and maternal mortality being some of the worst in the world. “Every day, many parents – misled by the ultra-processed food industry – inadvertently make food choices high in fat, salt or sugar (HFSS) that harm their children’s health,” said Akinbode Oluwafemi, Executive Director, CAPPA. “This industry aggressively promotes the excessive consumption of nutrient-poor, calorie-dense products – that it presents as foods – thus exacerbating Nigeria’s already troubling prevalence of non-communicable diseases like obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular conditions, and placing additional strain on the country's healthcare system. “All of these are further compounded by the alarming exodus of healthcare professionals, and poor state of health infrastructure in the country, largely because of poor funding of the sector,” Oluwafemi added. The statement noted that the federal government allocated ₦2.48 trillion to the health sector in the 2025 budget, which is 5.18 per cent of the total ₦47.9 trillion budget. "While this is an improvement compared to the 2024 budgetary allocation, it falls significantly short of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recommendation of 13 per cent and the African Union’s Abuja Declaration target of 15 per cent", the group noted. In preventing obesity and diet-related NCDs. CAPPA specifically urged the government to increase the current excise duty rate of N10 per liter on non-alcoholic, carbonated, and sweetened beverages in the country to at least N130 per liter, emphasising that such an adjustment is essential to achieving the intended health benefits of the policy. Furthermore, the NGO spotlighted the rising debilitating NCDs caused by tobacco use as one of the problems that can be solved by healthy food policies and increased allocation to the Tobacco Control Fund (TCF). “Tobacco use is public health’s number one enemy responsible for millions of preventable deaths worldwide, including that of thousands of Nigerians yearly. While we applaud the government for increasing the allocation to the TCF to N13 million in this year’s budget, we insist that N13m remains grossly insufficient compared to the level of funding required for the effective implementation of the National Tobacco Control Act (NTCA) 2015 and protection of Nigerians from the multifaceted harms of tobacco use” Oluwafemi said. CAPPA called on the federal government to increase the allocation to the TCF to a minimum of N300 million.