Adeoye Adeponle O, Nejo Yewande Tolulope, Ochu Chinwe Lucia, Bayigga Josephine, Ayebare Rodgers Rodriguez, Faneye Adedayo Omotayo, Adewemimo Charles Olaosebikan, Falayi Oluwaseun Emmanuel, Fagbamigbe Adeniyi Francis, Okonkwo Prosper, Opayele Adewale Victor, Nwiyi Gloria Ogochukwu, Eziechina Sunday Obiajunwa, Uzoma Ikemefule Rex, Ibekwe Priscilla, Shaweno Tamrat, Dereje Nebiyu, Kakooza Francis, Fallah Mosoka Papa, Odaibo Georgina Njideka
Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ibadan, Nigeria.
Department of Virology, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Nigeria.
J Public Health Afr. 2025 Jan 29;16(1):502. doi: 10.4102/jphia.v16i1.674. eCollection 2025.
COVID-19 disrupted critical public health services globally. It is important to understand how the pandemic affected healthcare service delivery and utilisation in Nigeria to guide planning for future public health crises in the country.
This study aimed to explore how the COVID-19 pandemic affected health service delivery and utilisation in Nigeria.
The study was conducted in Abuja, and Oyo State, Nigeria, in 2023.
This was a cross-sectional qualitative study that adopted an exploratory study design. Key Informant Interviews were used to elicit information from twenty-eight healthcare stakeholders in relevant government health Ministries and Agencies as well as partners of the government on health. The selection of the stakeholders was done through purposive sampling. Recorded interviews were transcribed verbatim, and analysed using an inductive qualitative data analysis method to generate themes. The data were further organized and analysed using NVivo software version 14.
The findings revealed that COVID-19 negatively affected healthcare service delivery and utilisation in Nigeria. This was due to various factors such as healthcare workers' unwillingness to provide services, exposed healthcare system gaps that affected service delivery, and the shift of attention and resources to COVID-19. However, the pandemic also presented an opportunity to improve public health infrastructure and health service delivery.
Government needs to maximise the gains from the pandemic to build a resilient health system.
This article provides insights for public health policy and planning aimed at enhancing resilience and optimising service delivery during future health crises.
新冠疫情扰乱了全球关键的公共卫生服务。了解这场大流行如何影响尼日利亚的医疗服务提供和利用情况，对于指导该国未来公共卫生危机的规划至关重要。
本研究旨在探讨新冠疫情如何影响尼日利亚的卫生服务提供和利用情况。
该研究于2023年在尼日利亚的阿布贾和奥约州进行。
这是一项采用探索性研究设计的横断面定性研究。通过关键 informant 访谈从相关政府卫生部门和机构以及政府卫生合作伙伴的28名医疗保健利益相关者那里获取信息。利益相关者的选择是通过目的抽样进行的。对录制的访谈进行逐字转录，并使用归纳定性数据分析方法进行分析以生成主题。使用NVivo软件版本14对数据进行进一步组织和分析。
研究结果显示，新冠疫情对尼日利亚的医疗服务提供和利用产生了负面影响。这是由于多种因素造成的，例如医护人员不愿提供服务、暴露了影响服务提供 的医疗系统差距，以及注意力和资源转向新冠疫情。然而，这场大流行也提供了改善公共卫生基础设施和卫生服务提供的机会。
政府需要最大限度地利用这场大流行带来的好处，以建立一个有韧性的卫生系统。
本文为旨在增强复原力和优化未来卫生危机期间服务提供的公共卫生政策和规划提供了见解。
