The Federal Government and health stakeholders have begun moves to overhaul Nigeria’s rehabilitation system after a major national assessment exposed severe weaknesses in rehabilitation services across the country.
The resolution followed a National Stakeholders’ Validation Meeting held in Abuja on the implementation of Rehabilitation 2030 through the World Health Organisation’s Systematic Assessment of Rehabilitation Situation and Rehabilitation Maturity Model.
The meeting brought together representatives of government ministries and agencies, academia, development partners, professional bodies and rehabilitation service providers to evaluate the state of rehabilitation services in Nigeria and map out reforms for the sector.
In a communiqué issued on Wednesday and signed by the Rehabilitation Technical Group, stakeholders described rehabilitation as “a critical component of health systems strengthening and an essential pathway towards achieving universal health coverage.”
The communiqué stated that the assessment, conducted in line with the WHO Rehabilitation 2030 Call for Action and the African Regional Rehabilitation Strategy (2025–2035), examined Nigeria’s rehabilitation system across six key health system domains.
The findings revealed widespread systemic weaknesses.
According to the communiqué, “none of the 50 assessed components was performing at an optimal level,” while only two components showed strong performance.
It added that, “ 16 components were moderately developed and required strengthening, while 32 components were operating at a “very low level,” requiring urgent establishment and broad system-wide intervention.”
Stakeholders identified weak governance structures, inadequate financing, poor data systems, workforce shortages, uneven infrastructure distribution and limited accessibility of rehabilitation services as major problems affecting the sector.
They also noted that rehabilitation was not explicitly captured in national health policies, while leadership and coordination mechanisms remained weak.
The communiqué said existing coordination efforts, largely driven by the Medical Rehabilitation Therapists Board (MRTB), would need to be reconsidered as part of wider sector reforms.
Participants further expressed concern over the absence of a dedicated rehabilitation budget, warning that limited insurance coverage had forced many Nigerians to depend on out-of-pocket payments for rehabilitation services.
The meeting also revealed that rehabilitation data were not routinely integrated into the national health information system, thereby limiting evidence-based planning and policy decisions.
Stakeholders highlighted shortages of rehabilitation professionals, limited training institutions and poor workforce distribution, especially at the primary healthcare level, where rehabilitation services are least available.
On access to services, participants observed that rehabilitation care remained concentrated in a few tertiary health facilities, while community-based rehabilitation services were largely absent within the public healthcare system.
The communiqué further noted low awareness and acceptability of rehabilitation services among healthcare workers and communities, a challenge stakeholders said continued to affect referrals and service utilisation.
Despite the gaps identified, stakeholders acknowledged areas of moderate progress, including patient-centred rehabilitation services, referral systems in some acute care settings and gradual alignment of rehabilitation training programmes with global standards.
As part of next steps, stakeholders resolved that a comprehensive report of the validation meeting would be produced within two weeks, while a clean draft of the STARS report would also be finalised.
They added that a revised report incorporating stakeholder inputs would be submitted to the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and the MRTB by June 9.
The meeting also agreed that consultations would continue through virtual and physical engagements to support refinement of the report and facilitate development of a National Rehabilitation Policy.
Stakeholders further emphasised the need for an implementation plan backed by a costed resource mobilisation framework, alongside monitoring and evaluation systems to track progress.
They also called for rehabilitation reforms to be adopted at the state level based on local needs and endorsed through the National Council on Health.
The push for reforms comes amid growing concerns over Nigeria’s increasing burden of disability, non-communicable diseases, stroke-related complications, injuries from road crashes and age-related health conditions, all of which have increased demand for rehabilitation services.
Health experts have repeatedly warned that weak rehabilitation systems can worsen disability outcomes, reduce economic productivity and place additional pressure on families and the healthcare system.
The WHO’s Rehabilitation 2030 initiative was introduced to encourage countries to strengthen rehabilitation services as part of universal health coverage and sustainable healthcare delivery.
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