Health in Nigeria
[7] Contributing factors include inadequate healthcare infrastructure, limited access to quality medical services,[8] malnutrition linked to poverty, displacement due to Boko Haram insurgency,[9] unsafe abortions,[10] and harmful traditional practices such as female genital mutilation.
[12] Regional disparities also exist, with maternal mortality declining in southern Nigeria but remaining high in the north due to lower educational levels and access to services.
[21] The epidemic is primarily driven by high-risk behaviors such as multiple sexual partnerships, low risk perception, limited access to healthcare,[22] and certain socioeconomic factors, including street hawking near military and police checkpoints.
[1] High transmission persists in various states, compounded by challenges such as drug and insecticide resistance and the socioeconomic costs of eradication efforts.
Strong leadership, transparency, and accountability at all levels of government are necessary to ensure success in malaria control and eradication efforts.
[32] Additionally, Aliko Dangote, whose companies supply salt, sugar, and flour, has called for a crackdown on the importation of low-quality food products, often smuggled into local markets.
Activities in the oil and gas industries, along with the widespread discharge of effluents into waterways, have caused significant environmental damage.
[39] Many waste materials contain estrogenic and androgenic chemicals, which can leach into the environment, affecting the ecosystem and potentially disrupting hormonal functions.
Nigeria has some of the worst air quality in the world (ranked 4th globally), with four major cities—Onitsha, Aba, Kaduna, and Umuahia—ranking among the most polluted cities due to particulate matter (PM10).
[42] Nigeria is home to many automobiles, including cars, motorbikes, and heavy-duty vehicles such as buses and lorries, many of which are old and inefficient in terms of energy consumption.
Many households also contribute to air pollution through the use of inefficient kerosene stoves, firewood, and charcoal for cooking, often indoors with poor ventilation.
Additionally, many offices and residences contribute to air pollution by using generators as substitutes for unreliable public power supply, with fumes released in poorly ventilated areas.
Other major sources of pollution include emissions from factories and industries, which release similar fumes as automobiles, but primarily use diesel instead of gasoline.
The World Health Organization (WHO) collaborates with governmental and non-governmental partners globally to highlight the preventability of road traffic injuries and to promote practices that address key behavioral risk factors, including speed, drink-driving, motorcycle helmet use, seat-belts, and child restraints.
The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) reported that 456 people died and 3,404 others were injured in 826 accidents recorded nationwide in January 2018.
As the continent's leading oil exporter, Nigeria faces the challenge of balancing global energy demands and domestic economic stability while addressing climate and environmental issues.
[57] However, adequate adaptation and mitigation measures could help protect the population and present opportunities for improved health outcomes despite the challenges posed by climate change.
Climate change could exacerbate existing diseases and contribute to the emergence of new ones, such as high blood pressure, psychosis, neurosis, and congenital malformations.
Flooding, driven by rising sea levels and inadequate infrastructure, especially poorly planned drainage systems, poses significant health risks.
[59] The health implications of flooding include waterborne diseases such as typhoid, cholera, pneumonia, diarrhea, and malaria, which already place a significant burden on the Nigerian population.
As former WHO Director General Hiroshi Nakajima stated, these diseases hinder societal progress, make fertile land uninhabitable, impair intellectual and physical growth, and incur substantial treatment costs.
[60] Increased temperatures also amplify the spread of diseases such as meningitis, measles, chicken pox, high blood pressure, and dehydration in pregnancy.
[63] Although Nigeria has acknowledged the potential health impacts of climate change, there remain gaps in planning and implementing mitigation strategies.
However, there have been no significant efforts to strengthen institutional and technical capacities or to implement activities aimed at increasing health infrastructure resilience.
Additionally, there have been no financial commitments (either domestic or international) to fund actions that would improve health resilience to climate change.
The WHO suggests conducting a comprehensive vulnerability and adaptation assessment that includes relevant stakeholders and an estimation of the costs to implement health resilience strategies, which should cover infrastructure, as well as institutional and technical capacities.
