Health Insurance: USAID SCALE Programme Recognizes CSJ’s Role and Contributions Towards Universal Health Coverage 

The SCALE Programme of USAID has recognized the contributions to CSJ in developments in the health sector in Nigeria. This recognition was captured in the latest edition of a newsletter of one of the Agency’s current programmes in Nigeria, SCALE (Strengthening Civic Advocacy and Local Engagement).

The newsletter titled SCALE WEEKLY NUGGETS featured a story on the interventions championed by the Centre for Social Justice which contributed to making the National Health Insurance Authority Act a reality. The title for that particular week was “National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA): The Transcending Success Story of USAID Civil Society Project”.  It recognised the advocacy effort initiated by CSOs led by the Centre for Social Justice for the amendment of the 2004 National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

The effort came to fruition with the signing into law of the new National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) Act-2022 by President Buhari on 19^th May 2022. The CSOs advocacy cluster led by CSJ was initially supported by the USAID Civil Society Project – Strengthening Advocacy and Civic Engagement (SACE), 2014- 2019, and the support continued under the current USAID Strengthening Civic Advocacy and Local Engagement (SCALE) project, 2020-2025. SCALE (like its predecessor SACE) strengthens the capacity of civil society organizations in Nigeria to promote policy reforms for good governance using the collective impact model (Cluster Approach).  

SCALE noted that the advocacy effort by CSJ and Cluster members led to the incorporation of the following areas into the Act.