Editor's Note: This week's Thought Leadership Piece comes from Dr. Mike Adeyemi-Lawal, a professional in the area of health-systems strengthening. He highlights the need for political debates to include precise discussions about Nigeria's health sector in light of the nation's dire health indicators, arguing that accountability will provide benchmarks with which the performance of political office holders can be assessed.
Health, like housing, income and virtually all other aspects of human life, has a political dimension. The central importance of health in a nation's development is illustrated by the links between population health within a country and its productivity, which is an essential ingredient for economic growth. Political decisions have a strong influence on a nation's health outcome, which in turn affects other policy and political initiatives around economic growth. The dire performance of health systems in Nigeria's history has stemmed largely from a lack of political will.
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