Data from 2025 from the Lagos State Ministry of Health have shown that an estimated six million residents are living with hypertension, with the majority unaware of their condition.

Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, disclosed this yesterday during a leadership dialogue organised by the Lagos State Primary Health Care Board in collaboration with development partners, including Nigeria Health Watch, aimed at strengthening the state’s primary healthcare system.

The dialogue brought together senior government officials, health administrators and local council leaders to review the state of primary healthcare delivery in Lagos and identify gaps requiring urgent attention.

Speaking on the burden of non-communicable diseases, the commissioner said Lagos was facing a growing public health challenge from hypertension, diabetes and obesity, which he described as “silent killers” responsible for a rising number of preventable complications in hospitals across the state.

According to him, 20 per cent of Lagosians are currently living with hypertension, translating to about six million people out of the state’s estimated population of 30 million.

He noted that the danger was compounded by the fact that most affected residents were unaware of their health status. Abayomi said available data indicated that about 70 per cent of Lagosians with hypertension did not know they were hypertensive, amounting to roughly 4.2 million people living with the condition without diagnosis or treatment. He explained that this lack of awareness was a major reason hypertension continued to cause severe health outcomes such as heart failure, kidney failure and stroke.

The commissioner stressed that hypertension and diabetes often progress without obvious symptoms until significant damage has occurred, making routine screening and early detection critical. He said many of the complications overwhelming secondary and tertiary hospitals could be prevented if residents accessed regular checks at the primary healthcare level.

According to him, simple interventions such as routine blood pressure measurement, blood sugar testing, weight monitoring and lifestyle counselling could significantly reduce the burden of these diseases if effectively delivered through functional primary healthcare centres (PHCs).