Health Professions in Nigeria

This book provides a unique assessment of the Nigerian healthcare system's different professions. It begins by examining the fundamentals of health professions to contextualize the issues explored in the book in more detail. It goes on to present the hierarchy of occupations, professionalization, and the evolutionary path and socialization milestones that occupations attempting to attain true professions' status and power transcend. It also analyses the differences between professional autonomy, direct access, and independent practice. The latter parts identify Nigeria's primary healthcare professions and vocational careers and discuss their central roles, each discipline's specialty; including the biography of 35 notable pioneer Nigerian healthcare professionals during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The book concludes by analyzing the causes and adverse impacts of interprofessional conflict and industrial action within the Nigerian healthcare system and proposes the interdisciplinary team concept as a panacea for both conundrums.
Joseph A. Balogun, FAS, is a Distinguished Professor and former Dean of the College of Health Sciences at Chicago State University and an Emeritus Professor of Physiotherapy at the University of Medical Sciences, Ondo City, Nigeria. His most recent book publication is Healthcare Education in Nigeria: Evolutions and Emerging Paradigms (2020).