Institutionalizing linkages between informal healthcare providers and the formal health system in Nigeria: what are the facilitating and constraining contextual influences?

With most households in rapidly urbanizing cities in low- and medium-income countries using private and informal providers for basic healthcare, the need to establish linkages with the formal sector is paramount in the drive for universal health coverage. Successful and effective linkage of informal healthcare providers to the formal health system requires an understanding of prevailing contextual factors and how they can be modulated to support the linkages.

Context plays a pivotal role in shaping the nature and success of any integration efforts. This paper, based on a qualitative study, explored the facilitating and constraining contextual influences shaping the linkage of informal healthcare providers into the formal health system in governance, service delivery, and data reporting.

This CHORUS study, conducted by the Health Policy Research Group (University of Nigeria), has provided valuable insights for decision makers and practitioners for harnessing the contextual factors to link informal healthcare providers successfully and effectively to the formal health system in order to improve access to quality health services in urban slums.

Read the full article here: Institutionalizing linkages between informal healthcare providers and the formal health system in Nigeria: what are the facilitating and constraining contextual influences?

Obinna Onwujekwe, Chinyere Ojiugo Mbachu, Irene Agyepong, Helen Elsey, Health Policy and Planning, Volume 40, Issue 4, May 2025, Pages 471–482,