EDN 603: Health Economics
EDN 603: Health Economics
Instructor: Taiwo Popoola
Last Updated: 14-10-2026 | Language: English
What you'll learn
- ✔ What Students Will Learn 1. Explain scarcity in Nigeria's healthcare system, including shortages of nurses, essential medicines, hospital beds, medical equipment and funding. 2. Distinguish positive and normative economic questions using examples from Nigerian healthcare policies, government health expenditure and nursing workforce planning. 3. Apply the concept of opportunity cost to decisions involving nursing staff deployment, hospital budgets, primary healthcare services and competing patient needs in Nigeria. 4. Examine the demand and supply of healthcare services in Nigeria, considering out-of-pocket payments, health insurance, rural–urban inequalities, workforce migration and infrastructure limitations. 5. Apply health economics principles to nursing leadership and resource allocation, using a practical Nigerian hospital budgeting scenario to evaluate competing priorities, efficiency and equity.
- ✔ By the end of this session, students should be able to: 1. Define health economics and scarcity and explain their relevance to healthcare delivery in Nigeria. 2. Distinguish between positive and normative economics using examples from Nigerian health policies and nursing practice. 3. Explain choice and opportunity cost and demonstrate how these influence healthcare budgeting, staffing and resource allocation in Nigerian hospitals. 4. Describe the factors influencing demand and supply of healthcare services in Nigeria, including out-of-pocket payments, health insurance, workforce shortages and geographical inequalities. 5. Apply the principles of efficiency and equity to evaluate competing healthcare priorities and make informed resource allocation decisions in Nigerian nursing practice.
Who this course is for
- Students of Nursing Science - Postgraduate Diploma in Nursing Education (PGDNE) (Basic Medical and Health Sciences)
- Lecturers and staff of institutions teaching EDN 603
- Registered nurses and midwives seeking to strengthen their understanding of health economics, healthcare financing and resource management.
- Nurse educators, clinical instructors and nursing education professionals.
- Nurse managers, ward leaders and other nurses involved in service planning, budgeting or management.
- Public health and community health professionals interested in health-system financing, equity and resource allocation.
- Healthcare professionals involved in programme planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
- Health-service managers and administrators working within healthcare or educational institutions.
- Professionals interested in health policy, health-sector reform, health insurance and healthcare management
- Early-career researchers and postgraduate health-science students seeking an applied introduction to health economics.
- Healthcare professionals interested in developing sustainable or entrepreneurial nursing and health services.
Related CCMAS Courses
This seminar is relevant to the following courses in the NUC Core Curriculum Minimum Academic Standards (CCMAS).
Seminar Class Schedule
24th October 2026 to 25th February 2027
Thu - 6:00 PM WAT
All times are in West African Time (WAT, UTC+1).
Lecture dates (1 lecture)
-
Oct
25
Sun
Introduction to Health Economics - Scarcity, Choice, Opportunity Cost, Demand and Supply Next
Sunday, 25th October 2026 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM WAT Zoom
Course Content
Description
Course Overview
EDN 603 introduces students to the application of economic principles in the management and allocation of health and nursing resources. The course examines the relationships between demography, social stratification, poverty, social welfare and population health, alongside key health and economic indicators.
Students will explore the concepts of scarcity, choice, opportunity cost, demand and supply and their application to healthcare. The course also considers the availability, distribution and production of health and nursing services, including human and material resource constraints and the internal and external migration of health workers.
The course further examines health-sector policies and reforms, including national and global health-development initiatives, health insurance and social welfare programmes, public-private partnerships, outsourcing, privatisation and commercialisation of healthcare services. Particular attention is given to the political economy of health, costing of health and nursing services, bottom-up budgeting, and the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of health programmes. Entrepreneurship in nursing services and the practical application of economic principles to resource allocation and decision-making in health and educational institutions are also considered.
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this course, students should be able to:
- Explain the relationships between demography, social stratification, poverty, social exclusion, health and economic outcomes.
- Interpret key health and economic indicators, including morbidity, mortality and gross domestic product (GDP), and explain their relevance to health planning and resource allocation.
- Discuss social welfare, poverty-alleviation and health-financing programmes, including the role of nurses within Nigeria's health insurance system.
- Apply the concepts of scarcity, choice, opportunity cost, demand and supply to health and nursing services.
- Analyse the economic implications of internal and external migration of health workers and the availability and distribution of health and nursing services.
- Examine problems associated with the production of healthcare, including constraints relating to human and material resources.
- Evaluate the implications of government policies and health-sector reforms, including national and global health-development initiatives, public-private partnerships, outsourcing, privatisation and commercialisation of healthcare services.
- Explain and apply principles of political economy, costing and bottom-up budgeting within health, nursing and educational institutions.
- Apply principles of planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation to healthcare programmes and resource utilisation.
- Examine entrepreneurship opportunities and resource-management considerations in nursing services.
- Integrate economic principles in making efficient and equitable decisions about the use of limited healthcare resources.