Amara Frances Chizoba
Renewal Health foundation, Nigeria
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Gerontol Geriatr Res
In line with goal of Universal health coverage (UHC), the 2014 Nigeria national health act classified older persons
among vulnerable group that may be eligible for exemption from payment for health care services at public
health establishments. However, 2016 operational guideline of National health insurance scheme (NHIS) ???a key
implementing body of the act- do not classify this same population as vulnerable. Despite the discrepancies, health
and socioeconomic needs of the older persons needs to be considered if the recommended UHC must be achieved.
Since NHIS has been identified as key to achieving this goal, awareness and involvement of older persons in the
scheme is important. We aim to assess awareness and involvement of the older persons in NHIS for UHC in Nigeria
setting. This is a descriptive cross sectional study. We introduced a semi-structured interviewer guided questionnaire
among older persons >55 years in a one day community geriatric project across three Nigeria communities between
December 2016 and August 2017. Assessment include; awareness of NHIS programs and involvement. Percentage
and odds ratio were used for data analysis. Participants constituted of 1496 older persons with mean age of 73.5
years. 72% (1077/1496) were female and 58% (868) had a minimum of primary education. 46% (688) are farmers,
16% (239) business owners, 12% (180) civil servants, and others (26% (389)) without a job, 30% (117) of which are
retirees. Only 12.7% (190/1496) reported to be aware of NHIS and only 8% (119/1496) of participants are/were
enrolled/involved in NHIS; 41% (49/119) current and 59% (70) past. There is higher odds of the educated than
uneducated being aware (OR=1.7) and involved (OR= 4.7) in NHIS.
There is low awareness and involvement in NHIS for UHC among older persons. We recommend programs to drive
awareness creation and enrolment/involvement of older persons in NHIS for UCH in Nigeria.