Global Health Otherwise shared on LinkedIn:
“Is Nigeria’s health system ready to care for people who live with long-term illness?
Illnesses like heart disease, diabetes, and lung disease do not end after one clinic visit. Earlier research shows that poor countries carry most early deaths from these illnesses, and that health systems in sub-Saharan Africa lack staff, equipment, and medicines.
Doctors built the idea of survivorship around cancer, and almost no one applied it to other conditions in Nigeria.
Anyikwa and colleagues (2026) offer a critical test of this gap. They used a national 2023 facility survey and disease burden data to score every state out of 100. The national score reached only 14. Lagos, Rivers, and the Federal Capital Territory scored highest, while Gombe, Osun, and Katsina scored lowest.
Secondary hospitals scored 45, but primary health centers, where most people seek care, scored just 13. Lung disease readiness trailed furthest behind.
The authors argue that Nigeria must strengthen primary care first. They call for more trained workers, working diagnostic tools, and steady medicine supplies.
Nigeria’s public health facilities score just 14 out of 100 for long-term chronic disease care. Primary centers lag behind hospitals, and states differ. Strengthening primary care would help most people.”
Other articles about Nigeria’s health system on OncoDaily.