Global initiatives and the development of the health sectors of Nigeria and Botswana, 1978-2000: A comparative analysis

Abstract

The study examines a historical course of the various global initiatives relating to developments in the health sector, especially under the purview of the United Nations, which had been adopted in Nigeria and Botswana before the year 2000 when the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) framework was launched. While global health development has a deep history, such has been more applicable to African states after the attainment of political independence. Accordingly, the major international initiatives pertaining to Nigeria and Botswana and the agencies responsible for them are being explored in terms of their nature and impact, as examples of such in the Western and Southern subregions of the continent. Among others, it argues that while the colonial setting of both countries laid certain foundations in them, it is their peculiar national focus in social development issues as well as their patterns of implementation of international initiatives over the years that have tremendously shaped their respective health sectors’ development in the post-independence period.