90% of Kaduna residents lack health insurance, fueling maternal deaths – Report

By Victor Idajili

 About 90% of Kaduna State residents have no health insurance coverage, leaving most families to pay for medical care out of pocket and worsening maternal mortality, a new advocacy brief has revealed.

Mrs Adenike Badiora, Advocacy Lead at ACIOE Foundation’s Maternal Health and Communications Project, disclosed this during the presentation of the report titled “Accelerating Maternal Health Outcomes in Kaduna State: The Case for Private Sector Financing and Institutionalised Stakeholder Engagement”.

Badiora said Kaduna has made some gains since the Health Access 2025 Roundtable. These include a planned N1.2 billion injection into the state health insurance scheme through a Kaduna-Gates Foundation partnership, the Emir of Zazzau’s Health Committee covering 11 LGAs, and micro-payment pilots with Polaris Bank and the National Union of Road Transport Workers.

Yet the coverage gap remains wide. “90 per cent of Kaduna’s population remains uninsured. Private facilities, the de facto first point of contact for the majority of women, remain locked out of financing mechanisms, insurance frameworks and digital systems,” she said.

She described the situation as “not just a policy failure, but a direct contributor to preventable maternal deaths.”

Kaduna continues to record alarming maternal health figures. The state’s Maternal Mortality Ratio stands at 452.6 deaths per 100,000 live births, while neonatal mortality is 63 deaths per 1,000 live births.

Badiora urged government agencies, financial institutions, development partners, traditional rulers and the private sector to act on 17 recommendations in the brief to close the insurance gap and improve outcomes.

Responding, Director-General of the Kaduna State Contributory Health Management Authority, Abubakar Hassan, acknowledged the low awareness and uptake of health insurance highlighted in the study. He said the findings present an opportunity to improve engagement and enrollment.

With most women relying on private clinics that are excluded from insurance schemes, stakeholders say expanding coverage and integrating private providers will be critical to reducing preventable deaths in the state.