A new study suggests that residents in the northeast and northwest have the least access to healthcare in Nigeria.

Kebbi, Sokoto, Gombe and Katsina are among the worst ranked states in the study on healthcare delivery in Nigeria, which was published on Thursday by Lagos-based health technology firm WellNewMe.

Anambra, Osun, Ogun, Lagos and Rivers were rated as the most efficient in healthcare delivery.

The authors of the study say their data was mostly from 2018 and from sources including the National Bureau of Statistics.

“To rank the most efficient states for healthcare in Nigeria we used a modified version of the model used by New York based Common Wealth Fund, a private foundation that aims to promote a high performing health care system…” the authors wrote.

 “We used 27 indicators that measure performance in four domains important to policymakers, providers, patients and the public.

“They include care process, access, equity and healthcare outcomes. Our data come from a variety of sources, including the National Bureau of Statistics, and The Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) Programme.

“The indicators also include the WHO, Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative (OPHI) and Kingmakers.com.ng.”

The study said that healthcare in Nigeria is largely influenced by different local and regional factors that impact the quality or amount of care received by citizens. The study said this indicates the efficiency of the health system in each state.

“Healthcare efficiency is a comparison of delivery system outputs, such as health outcomes, with inputs like cost, time or material.

“Efficiency can be reported then as a ratio of outputs to inputs or a comparison to optimal productivity using stochastic frontier analysis or data envelopment analysis.

“This is sometimes difficult to do, especially in a country where data is hard to come by,’’ the study said.