Health Equity: Nigeria Must Turn Policies Into Action, Ajao Says

The chief executive officer of OneBarrow International Limited, Yemi Ajao, has urged the federal government and healthcare stakeholders to translate Nigeria’s health policies into coordinated action at the point of care to achieve universal health coverage.

Ajao made the call in a statement signed by the company’s communication officer, Maryam Aminu, in Abuja yesterday, ahead of the 2026 National Health Equity Conference scheduled for October 13 to 15.

The conference, jointly convened by OneBarrow International Limited and major national health associations, will be held at the Nigeria National Merit Award House, Maitama, Abuja.

With the theme, “From Policy to Impact: Care Coordination as the Core Engine of Health Equity,” the conference is expected to address the gap between health policies and their implementation.

Ajao said that bringing healthcare associations and private-sector partners together would help tackle fragmentation in the health system and improve accountability.

“By bringing every healthcare association and private sector partner to one table around care coordination, we can build a responsive, accountable system where no citizen is left behind,” he said.

According to him, the conference will focus on care fragmentation, system accountability and the use of digital feedback to improve access to healthcare, particularly for underserved populations.

He said the conference would also produce a binding post-conference communiqué and an actionable roadmap for national implementation.

The statement listed the Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof Muhammad Ali Pate, as Chief Host, alongside the Chairman of the House Committee on Health Services, Hon Amos Gwamna Magaji, and the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa.

Ajao said greater collaboration among the public sector, private sector and clinical associations was necessary to address persistent weaknesses in the health system.

“Where the public sector, private sector, and clinical associations can pull in the same direction,” he said.

He said the initiative was informed by the need to confront what he described as an endemic breakdown in healthcare delivery.

“My job is to be under pressure, that things are broken. That is why we created the idea of the Access Care Link ecosystem,” Ajao stated.

He explained that Carelink was designed as an integrated digital platform connecting primary healthcare clinics, diagnostic laboratories, pharmacies and specialists.

“We engineered Carelink to serve as an integrated digital bridge linking primary clinics, diagnostic labs, pharmacies, and specialists into a single connected ecosystem,” he said.

According to him, the platform would enable patients to navigate the healthcare system, with their medical information and referral history available throughout their treatment journey.

“It ensures that, in some way, when a patient enters the health system, they get medical data and a referral journey as seamlessly as possible,” he said.

Ajao said OneBarrow spent the past two years engaging patients, frontline healthcare workers, private businesses and policymakers to understand the challenges confronting the sector.

“Over the last two years, we didn’t sit in an office assuming we had all the answers. We took action by listening,” he said.

He said the consultations revealed that patients struggled to navigate care, healthcare workers faced burnout, private operators suffered operational losses, and policymakers grappled with limited resources.

Ajao said the consultations also established that stakeholders shared a common objective of achieving universal health coverage by 2030.

“Every single stakeholder wants to achieve the government’s target of universal health coverage by 2030,” he said.

However, he warned that the target could remain elusive without urgent measures to address fragmentation and gaps in healthcare coordination.

“Here’s the critical lesson I learned through this process: it is mathematically impossible to achieve universal health coverage by 2030 if we do not have mitigation,” Ajao said.

He added that fragmentation in the healthcare system was already producing serious consequences for patients.

“When care attention is strained, our system is fragmented,” he said.

“First, safety and misdiagnosis. Patients repeat tests or receive conflicting treatment because records don’t follow them.”