Aspirations and realities of intergovernmental collaboration in national- level interventions: Insights from maternal, neonatal and child health policy processes in Nigeria, 2009– 2019

Abstract

In Nigeria’s federal government system, national policies assign concurrent healthcare responsibilities across constitutionally arranged government levels. Hence, national policies, formulated for adoption by states for implementation, require collaboration. This study examines collaboration across government levels, tracing implementation of three maternal, neonatal and child health (MNCH) programmes, developed from a parent integrated MNCH strategy, with intergovernmental collaborative designs, to identify transferable principles to other multilevel governance contexts, especially lowincome countries.