• High treatment costs, late presentation drive Lassa fever deaths to 166, says NCDC
• 80 heart surgeons serve Nigeria’s over 200 million people, CAPPA laments
African Health Observatory Platform on Health Systems and Policies (AHOP) has said Nigeria’s health system is performing at only 45 per cent, below the African regional average of 56 per cent.
This was as the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) reported that 166 people died from Lassa fever since January, indicating a case fatality rate higher than the previous year.
Meanwhile, Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) observed that only 80 heart surgeons are serving Nigeria’s population of over 200 million.
Nigeria’s profile was published by the Health Policy Research Group, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), which serves as the Nigerian National Centre for AHOP.
It was produced with support from the World Health Organisation–African Region (WHO-AFRO) and the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare.
This is contained in a statement signed by the Director of Nigeria’s National Centre for AHOP and Coordinator of the Health Policy Research Group at UNN, Prof Obinna Onwujekwe.
Onwujekwe said the report, to be unveiled on October 8, showed that health outcomes had not matched the series of sector reforms and spending in the country, with government expenditure among the lowest in Africa.
According to the profile, health system performance outputs, including access to, demand for, and quality of health services, improved over the last decade but remained insufficient to achieve universal health coverage by 2030.
It said that despite the progress, Nigeria’s absolute coverage of essential services was relatively low at 1.7 per cent below the African regional average.
The report stated that private health providers deliver 70 per cent of all health services, despite accounting for only 35 per cent of health facilities.
According to Epidemiological Week 37 data covering September 8 to 14, the public health agency recorded 895 confirmed Lassa fever cases across 21 states and 106 local councils, translating to a Case Fatality Rate (CFR) of 18.5 per cent, from 16.9 per cent reported within the same period in 2024.
The NCDC attributed the increased mortality to late presentation and poor health-seeking behaviour often linked to the high cost of treatment, despite fewer suspected and confirmed cases compared to last year.
Ondo, Bauchi, Edo, Taraba, and Ebonyi states account for 90 per cent of confirmed cases, with Ondo alone responsible for a third of infections.
It was, however, noted that no new healthcare worker infections were reported during the week.
The agency warned that poor environmental sanitation, weak community awareness and delayed treatment were driving the disease’s spread and severity.
Lassa fever is an acute viral haemorrhagic illness caused by the Lassa virus, transmitted through contact with contaminated food or household items via infected rodents like the multi-mammate rat, and can spread from person to person, particularly in healthcare settings lacking infection control.
The NCDC said it has deployed 10 rapid response teams to affected states, introduced new infection prevention and control training modules, and supported clinical management fellowship programmes with local and international partners to help combat the outbreak.
It urged states to boost community engagement and preventive campaigns and reminded healthcare workers to stay vigilant and initiate early treatment upon symptom appearance.
CAPPA observed that heart surgery costs also rose steeply, from about N3 million to N5.5 million on average in 2024, placing life-saving care far beyond the reach of most families.
It called on the federal and state governments to urgently adopt robust healthy food policies to stem the rising tide of cardiovascular and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in the country.
The civil society organisation urged authorities at all levels to implement evidence-based measures, including mandatory salt reduction targets, an effective sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) tax of at least N130 per litre, mandatory front-of-pack warning labels (FOPWL) on packaged and ultra-processed foods (UPF), restrictions on the advertising and marketing of junk foods, tobacco and smokeless nicotine products, especially to children, and an increase in tobacco taxes to at least 100 percent.
CAPPA’s Executive Director, Akinbode Oluwafemi, urged the government not to renege on its plan to earmark these taxes for strengthening the health sector.
