Challenges and prospects of primary healthcare data management in Nigeria

Abstract

Primary Health Care, according to National Health Policy remains the bedrock of Nigerian health system. By implication, it is the foundation on which the overall health programs were built. According to WHO, Primary healthcare is essential healthcare based on practical, scientifically sound, and socially acceptable methods and technology made universally accessible to individuals and families in the community, through their full participation and at a cost that the community and country can afford to maintain at every stage of development in the spirit of self-reliance and self-determination1. It was conceived with idea built on eight components to include; education on prevailing health problems and how to prevent them, provision of adequate water and basic sanitation, adequate food supply and good nutrition, maternal and child health including family planning, immunization against the common communicable diseases, control of common endemic diseases, treatment of common diseases and injury as well as provision of essential drugs.