Economic pressure and difficulty in accessing essential public services like healthcare, medications, among others, are steadily sending Nigerians to their early graves.
In the last three years, many Nigerians have died because they could not afford to consult a physician, visit a hospital or buy medications prescribed for them. For some, what begins as a minor health complaint eventually develops into a life-threatening condition because they lack the financial resources to seek timely medical attention.
And the cycle continues, with many others likely to face the same fate before the end of this year because the economic challenges are not improving anytime soon. The rising cost of living, increasing prices of medicines and expensive medical procedures have made healthcare an additional burden for households already struggling to meet basic needs.
But the death of Nollywood actor, Francis Duru, on October 23 is one loss that shook the country. Although the veteran actor had, in a viral video shortly before his death, denied reports that he was battling serious health challenges, the testimony of Pastor Sarah Omakwu of the Family Worship Centre in Abuja, where Duru had been a member since 1998, offered another perspective on his health history.
Omakwu revealed that Duru had informed her about a health condition decades ago when he first became a member of the church and had quietly managed it over the years.
“He had told me about this illness around that time. It’s a long time ago. He had been managing it,” the pastor disclosed, adding that she could not remember whether she had followed up with him about his condition. She described his death at 57 as coming too early.
While the circumstances surrounding Duru’s death have not established any direct connection between his earlier health condition and the illness that led to his death, his experience raises broader questions about the health challenges many Nigerians manage privately, sometimes for years, without adequate medical attention.
There are many Durus out there who have been struggling with undisclosed health conditions for a long time, some of whom may have already died without their circumstances attracting public attention. For millions of Nigerians, staying alive is becoming an increasingly expensive struggle, as chronic illnesses emerge before old age, medical bills consume scarce household incomes and environmental hazards, including air pollution and extreme heat, threaten public health.
A recent report by Gatefield, a public strategy, media and advocacy organisation, has brought the scale of the problem into sharper focus. Presenting its findings at a health summit in Abuja, the organisation disclosed that 49 per cent of Nigerian households manage long-term health conditions, while one in eight young adults aged 18 to 35 lives with a chronic illness.
The findings were attributed to a combination of factors, including the high cost of medical care, corruption in public services, air pollution and rising temperatures.
Gatefield Chief Executive Officer, Adewunmi Emoruwa, said the organisation surveyed more than 1,000 people across the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Lagos and Kano to examine the social, economic and environmental factors affecting Nigerians’ health and life expectancy beyond the familiar burden of infectious and non-communicable diseases.
“The pilot survey of 1,070 adults across Lagos, Kano, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) provides a look into the environmental, economic, and systemic drivers of premature mortality across the country.
“The survey explored daily trade-offs, chronic conditions, catastrophic medical debt, environmental threats like extreme heat and air pollution, and where people seek care first, with this release highlighting initial findings,” Emoruwa disclosed.
He called for a shift in Africa’s healthcare strategy, urging governments to move beyond an endless search for innovations and concentrate on interventions that already work, including treating food systems as core public health infrastructure.
The summit, christened LiveWell: Longevity Factors, brought together global health leaders, funders, policymakers and civil society organisations to examine ways of improving health outcomes across Africa.
The Gatefield report revealed a growing crisis involving the cost of healthcare, the conditions in which Nigerians live, their access to essential services and their chances of living longer and healthier lives.
Chronic conditions, unaffordable medical bills and polluted surroundings are increasingly shaping the health of young Nigerian adults and families. The report found that 52 per cent of respondents had faced financial strain or gone without treatment because of healthcare costs, forcing many to make difficult choices to obtain medical attention.
According to the report, 27 per cent of patients borrowed money to pay for treatment, 25 per cent relied on family support, 14 per cent cut back on food and other necessities, while 13 per cent sold personal assets.
These figures reveal how healthcare expenses can push families into further financial difficulties. For a household already struggling with food, transportation, school fees and rent, an unexpected hospital bill can upset an entire budget. Families managing chronic illnesses face an even more difficult situation because treatment often requires regular consultations, laboratory investigations and continuous medication.
The problem is compounded by the country’s dependence on out-of-pocket payments for healthcare. Data from the World Health Organisation indicate that household payments accounted for about 72 per cent of Nigeria’s current health expenditure in 2023. This means that a substantial proportion of the financial responsibility for healthcare continues to fall directly on individuals and families rather than being pooled through public financing and insurance arrangements.
For many Nigerians without health insurance, seeking medical attention is therefore determined not only by the seriousness of an illness but also by the amount of money available at the time.
The Gatefield report also highlighted the difficulties faced by families managing chronic illnesses, who were more likely to encounter barriers to essential public health services.
According to its findings, families managing chronic conditions were significantly more likely to be let down by public services. About one in three, or 33 per cent, missed out on a needed public health service, such as vaccination, screening or essential medication. In addition, three in four adults, representing approximately 75 per cent, experienced or witnessed corruption when accessing public services during the same period.
The findings raise concerns about the ability of public healthcare institutions to provide affordable and reliable services, particularly for low-income households that cannot afford private medical facilities.
The report further identified environmental hazards as another major threat to public health. Extreme heat, experienced by 69.7 per cent of respondents, and air pollution, reported by about 54 per cent, were among the environmental concerns highlighted.
For people living with asthma, hypertension and cardiovascular diseases, prolonged exposure to excessive heat and polluted air can worsen existing conditions and increase the risk of complications requiring hospitalisation.
” Nigeria’s health crisis extends beyond the availability of medicines and individual lifestyle choices. Governance failures and economic pressures are limiting people’s ability to stay healthy,” the report noted.
Emoruwa called for evidence-based policies to reduce preventable illnesses, including taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages, alcohol and tobacco, tighter restrictions on the marketing of unhealthy products to children and clearer front-of-package nutrition labels.
He also advocated lower-sodium salt alternatives to help reduce hypertension, alongside the deployment of technology that could improve hospital efficiency and give medical professionals more time to attend to patients.
He stressed the need to strengthen the distribution of essential medicines, improve healthcare financing and ensure that public resources were invested effectively in health, education and maternal nutrition.
Special Adviser to the President on Health, Dr Salma Ibrahim Anas, also called for reforms in the nation’s healthcare delivery system, which she said should be anchored on sustainable domestic financing and decisive legislative backing.
“There are health interventions that have been invented that are truly effective. It is counterproductive when these solutions don’t reach the people they are supposed to start with.
“These discussions cut across all stakeholders. The government remains committed to scaling existing solutions and partnering with development partners to improve Nigeria’s healthcare system,” Anas said.
Her remarks highlighted the need to ensure that effective health interventions reach the people who need them rather than remaining inaccessible despite their proven benefits.
Experts and innovators at the summit also examined strategic approaches to scaling global health solutions and accelerating healthcare innovations across the continent.
Siddhartha Prakash, Lead, WIPO Global Health, noted that artificial intelligence was increasingly being used in healthcare but warned that many existing systems relied on foreign-trained models that might not adequately reflect the realities, populations and healthcare needs of Nigeria and other African countries.
He said AI was transforming healthcare in Nigeria through applications in disease screening, diagnostics and cognitive management, adding that about 20 per cent of Nigerian doctors used conversational AI tools such as ChatGPT and Claude to support decision-making.
However, he argued that locally developed technologies were needed to address the limitations of imported systems.
Prakash cited the development of a smart bra for breast cancer detection by Nigerian inventor Kemi Sola Bolarinwa as an example of homegrown innovation. He noted that intellectual property protection, supported by the Federal Government, had played an important role in the technology’s commercialisation journey.
He maintained that locally developed AI technologies could help bridge existing gaps by producing solutions better suited to the continent’s health challenges.
The discussions also drew attention to the relationship between nutrition, food security and long-term health outcomes. Stakeholders argued that African healthcare systems must begin to recognise food not merely as a basic necessity but also as an important instrument of disease prevention.
They urged policymakers to treat nutrition and primary healthcare as inseparable pillars of longevity, emphasising that resilient food systems have a direct bearing on the quality of life and long-term health of citizens.
Kofoworola Odozi, an editor at WeAreGST, called on the media to hold companies accountable for products that threaten public health.
“We must use media to hold the companies that put the lives of Nigerians at risk the same way they use media to promote and sell their goods,” Odozi said.
Her position underscored the importance of public awareness, responsible marketing and corporate accountability in preventing avoidable health problems, particularly those associated with unhealthy diets and lifestyle choices.
The Gatefield Health Summit is an annual African health convening that brings together policymakers, global leaders and communities to advance resilient, equitable and locally driven health systems. It seeks to translate research and insights into policies and partnerships capable of delivering lasting improvements in healthcare.
The report presents a sobering picture of the challenges confronting Nigerians seeking longer and healthier lives. The problem is no longer limited to those who cannot afford sophisticated medical procedures or specialist hospitals. Increasingly, ordinary families are struggling to pay for basic consultations, routine investigations and medications.
For families managing chronic illnesses, the cost of treatment, environmental hazards and barriers to essential public services can turn staying healthy into a daily struggle.
Addressing the crisis will require more than medicines and medical technologies. It will also demand effective governance, affordable healthcare, stronger preventive policies, safer environments and sustained investment in the conditions that enable Nigerians to live healthier lives.
Ultimately, the true measure of a country’s healthcare system should not be the number of hospitals built or medical innovations announced, but how many ordinary citizens can walk into a hospital, receive the treatment they need and afford to stay alive.
