AWARENESS AND PATRONAGE OF THE TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS SOCIAL HEALTH INSURANCE PROGRAMME (TISHIP) AMONG STUDENTS OF TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS IN ABUJA, NIGERIA

Abstract

Healthcare sector in Nigeria has performed so abysmally over the years. This owes partly to the inability of the vast majority of the populace to access affordable healthcare services and the lack of comprehensive healthcare framework for the masses. This abysmal performance of the healthcare sector in Nigeria led to the introduction of National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in 2005 with the hope of increasing the performance of the healthcare delivery system in the Country. The NHIS is saddled with the mandate of universal coverage of all citizens by the end of 2020. As part of strategies to pursue this mandate, the Scheme has designed various programmers targeting the various segments of the Nigerian economy. The Tertiary Institutions Social Health Insurance Programme (TISHIP) is one of such programmes designed for students in postsecondary institutions in Nigeria. Since TISHIP commenced in 2009, it is important to assess the level of patronage and awareness of the scheme among students of tertiary education institutions in Abuja, Nigeria as a proxy to gauge the extent of patronage of the scheme and derive suitable lessons that could be used in its expansion. Anchored on Systems Theory, this is cross-sectional, descriptive survey was carried out among students from University of Abuja, FCT College of Education, Zuba, and Baze University Abuja. A stratified sampling technique was used to select study participants. The study found that students were majorly unaware of the scheme and patronage of students is very low and hence recommends that aggressive publicity of TISHIP should be done by the school authority using the student associations, NHIS and NGOs