HEALTHCARE RIGHTS; ARE IMPORTANT, YET NEVER ENOUGH.

I have often wondered. Why do people die? Why is the right to live not enough to protect them from death? Especially death that arises not as a result of a lack of proper healthcare or negligence of healthcare providers. What could have happened? How does someone just die in their sleep? In trying to answer these questions in Nigeria, some say the victims were attacked.

Deaths from these factors in Nigeria are usually attributed to one form of witchcraft attack or the other.

The Medical side of things is often ignored by a great majority, especially in a religious country like Nigeria where medical prevention is looked at as “calling the sickness”. People prefer to remain ignorant when it concerns their health, rather than carrying out the necessary routine check to ascertain the state of their health. People would rather wait until a problem becomes obvious before seeking medical attention; others prefer to get spiritual help.

In Nigeria where healthcare rights remain very low, the proposed health budget still falls below the 15% benchmark of health sector budget allocation, which was reached by the African Union (AU) leaders. This year’s budgetary allocation increased by 29.37% and the cost of healthcare per person is pegged at N3,453.

The BIG QUESTION “What can this cover?

If used to our advantage, we have something that will make a big difference: PREVENTIVE RIGHTS.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, vaccines prevent 2–3 million global deaths yearly among children younger than age 5. Still, 1 child dies every 20 seconds from a disease that a vaccine could have prevented.

Healthcare rights are essential, and adequate and affordable healthcare for all citizens should be put in place by the government. The right to life is protected when there is adequate provision for the health of its citizens, as life and health go hand in hand.

While we hope the government does better as regards healthcare we should play our part. Preventive care should guard our actions — routine checks, disease screenings, immunization, eating healthy, and regular exercise. Studies have shown that preventive care service reduces premature mortality and improves the quality of life.

Healthcare rights will always exist. Will the execution be enough to protect our health? I don’t think so. Prevention methods should be adopted to protect our health.

Healthcare rights will never be enough. Prevention is better than cure!