ABOUT NMA

The Nigerian Medical Association is the largest medical association in the west African sub-region with over 35,000 members from 36 state branches and the branch from the Federal capital Territory. 70% of doctors practice in urban areas where only 30% of the population reside. The population of Nigeria is about 130 million. Policy decisions are made by the Association's National Executive Council (NEC) which is the governing body. The constitution of NMA is supreme and its provisions shall have binding force on all authorities, organs, branches and members of the Association and, where applicable, on any other persons. Any medical or dental practitioner registered under the Medical and Dental Practitioners' Act CAP 221 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria(1990) and as subsequently amended shall have a right of membership of the Association on payment of the annual practising fee in the said Act as may be reviewed from time to time, unless otherwise prescribed herein in the constitution. The National Executive Council is the governing body of the Association and has full powers to act on its behalf in the period between the Annual Delegates' Meetings in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution of the Association unless otherwise stated in the constitution.

Although the Association is involved in many of the government's activities, it is consulted formally by the government only on an 'ad-hoc' basis. It is not consulted as 'of right' on health issues and has to press for its participation. The Association nominates eleven members of the Medical & Dental Council of Nigreia which regulates the practice of medicine & dentistry in Nigeria and the curricula of its medical schools.

The NMA is at present involved in influencing health policy formulation in an ad hoc manner. This is done by making unsolicited recommendations to government on various health issues and also by making inputs, whenever invited, to some of the national committee meetings on policy formulations.

The Association holds training courses for doctors, and participates in radio programmes and TV talk shows. It has several on-going projects including those on AIDS, on family planning and on primary health care. Project development is dependent upon outside funding. Funding agencies supporting the Association's activities include UNFPA, UNICEF, WHO, USAID, The Ford Foundation, and the John D and Catherine T MacArthur Foundation.

The Association collaborates in specific projects on health issues with individual NGOs and with the National Association of Non-governmental Organizations on health (NANGOH).

The NMA plans to make more in-roads into the Federal Ministry of Health to ensure that it is involved on all aspects of policy formulation, especially in the planning stages.

It is also planned that the NMA continues to cooperate with government in project development so that the association may be represented on the delegations to regional and international health conferences

The NMA is the host of the permanent Secretariat of the Confederation of African Medical Associations and Societies (CAMAS). The Association is developing a proposal to involve all African Medical Associations and Societies (Anglophone, Francophone and Arabic-speaking) in efforts to improve reproductive health and safe motherhood in Africa.

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