The global health care sector is going through a period of “glocalization,” a word that brings together the words “globalization” and “localization” to explain the adaptation of international products or services to provide the needs of individuals in a specific location. Generally associated with efforts by large consumer organizations to enhance sales by developing their products and choices to appeal to local tastes, glocalization also is applicable to health care: Industry concerns are global, even if care is generally provided locally. And while the effects of these concerns are affected by local aspects, many challenges are shared around the world to different degrees, as are the possibilities to innovate to solve them.
Total global health spending was predicted to increase by 2.6% in 2013 prior to accelerating to an average of 5.3% a year over the upcoming four years (2015-2017). This development will place huge pressure on governments, insurers, health care delivery systems, and consumers in both developed and developing markets to deal with concerns such as an aging population, the increasing prevalence of several chronic diseases, soaring costs, unequal quality, imbalanced access to care because of workforce shortages, infrastructure restrictions and individual locations, and disruptive technologies.
Throughout the world there have never been more health care difficulties than there are these days. However, these difficulties can push stakeholders to innovate in new and fascinating ways and to produce scientific, medical, and healthcare delivery advancements that can enhance the health of individuals globally.
Healthcare Sector overview
Healthcare, among both providers and payers in public and private sectors, is a very expensive industry. The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) reports that worldwide healthcare spending as a portion of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will average 10.5 % in 2015 , with regional percentages of 17.4% in North America, 10.7 % in Western Europe, 8.0% in Latin America, 6.6% in Asia/ Australasia, and 6.4% in the Africa/Middle East.
Nigeria Healthcare overview
Nigeria, the largest economy in Africa with a GDP of $594.257 billion (International Monetary Fund (IMF)) has a total expenditure on health per capita of 217$ (WHO, 2013). However, over USD 500 million to 1 billion is spent annually on medical tourism, as per the Nigerian Medical Association and the Sovereign Wealth Fund. A similar trend towards outsourcing of tertiary healthcare to locations outside of the one’s own country is observed worldwide with a major flux towards, South Asia and South East Asia.
It is interesting to find that 80% of visas grated by India to Nigerians are related to medical tourism. Among developed countries, health is the second-biggest category of government spending, following social protection. Most of the nations throughout the globe are experiencing a formidable challenge to handle the quickly increasing cost of health care. Despite the fact that spending increased by just an estimated 1.9% in 2012, it is predicted to pick up again, with total spending increasing by 2.6% in nominal conditions in 2013 and by a yearly average of 5.3 % till 2017.Given population increase, this means that spending per head is expected to increase by an average of 4.4% a year from 2015-2017.
According to the new World Health Statistics 2014 report published by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the world is said to be witnessing major increases in life expectancy in recent times. Life expectancy is estimated to rise from an estimated 72.6 years in 2012 to 73.7 years by 2017, providing the number of individuals over age 65 to about 560 million globally, or more than 10 % of the total worldwide population. In Western Europe the ratio will hit 20 %; in Japan, 27 %. The aging population will create further demand for health care services in 2015 and beyond. Simultaneously, the number of high-income households is predicted to rise by about 10 %, to over 500 million, with over 50% of that increase coming from Asia.
The new World Health Statistics 2014 revealed a major change in the African nation nations as well e.g., In Nigeria life expectancy was 46 years in 1990 which has increased to 54 years in 2012.
It may be noteworthy that according to the new World Health Statistics report 2014 women have a longer life expectancy than men in Nigeria. Their life expectancy for women has risen from 47 years in 1990 to 55 years in 2012, while that for Nigerian men from 45 years in 1990 to 53 years in 2012. Further, the report further highlighted that low-income countries have made the most significant progress, with an increase of nine years in life expectancy between 1990 and 2012, from 51.2 to 60.2 years for men, and 54.0 to 63.1 years for women.
Governments in many Developing markets are taking note of this economic development and preparing to roll out public health care services to fulfil consumers’ increasing expectations.
With aging populations, an raise in those inflicted with chronic conditions that require more health care spending, govt attempts to maximize the access to care in both industrialized and emerging markets, and therapy advancements predicted to drive sector expansion, pressure to decrease healthcare costs continues to be and is increasing. Heavy government debts and restrictions on tax income, together with the pressures of aging populations, are pushing health payers to make complicated decisions on benefit levels. Europe continues to be under particular pressure, and not just in those nations most affected by the regional economic crisis. After pushing through painful cuts to drug costs, wages and staffing levels, some government authorities are now using the crisis as an opportunity to push via broader reforms to health care financing or provision.
The wish is that these changes may make health care systems more sustainable in the long term.
