Cardiovascular disorders, hypertension, diabetes and cholesterol-related health conditions springing from lifestyle habits have been on the rise in Nigeria, in the last 16 years.
Often, between 35 and 40 years of age, lifestyle diseases begin to manifest. This is about the time some people experience the onset of diabetes. Cardiovascular disorders such as hypertension start around this period too, experts say.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), Nigeria is one of the many developing countries where the health services have focused on treating infectious diseases, such as malaria and tuberculosis, but in recent years, non-communicable conditions have become an increasing problem.
One of the most prevalent non-communicable conditions worldwide, hypertension, is responsible for an estimated 45 percent of deaths due to heart disease and 51 percent of deaths due to stroke globally. Hypertension and its complications constitute approximately 25 percent of emergency medical admissions in urban hospitals in Nigeria.
While Nigeria’s plans to tackle the problem have yet to be announced, the factors making it worse are clear, WHO says. “The high prevalence of hypertension is explained in part by lifestyle changes, many related to changing environmental and social factors,” notes Obinna Ekwunife, a lecturer at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
In terms of social and economic demographics, lifestyle diseases cut across social classes in Nigeria. “In the last 16 years of my experience in Nigeria’s healthcare industry, diabetes and cancer affect both the rich and poor. However, cardiovascular disorders are prevalent among top executives,” says Anil Grover, founder of Grover Medical Lifestyle Clinic, Nigeria’s first.
Grover states that these are often people who work in highly stressful jobs or environments – management executives, bankers, telecoms people, business people and top government officials.
There are limited numbers of dedicated healthcare facilities for these lifestyle diseases in Africa’s most populous country. Such clinics are common in Singapore, Dubai and India, but there was none in Nigeria until Grover started one three years ago.
“We decided to start a small clinic that focuses on lifestyle diseases; this is how we got Grover’s Medical Lifestyle Clinic registered,” Grover says. The small clinic has blossomed into a full-blown medical lifestyle hospital.
Ignorance and poverty make it difficult for some people to see how their lifestyles have consequences on their long-term health. It is also uncommon for people to go for routine medical check-ups, so many people present late with long-term complications.
Kingsley Akinroye, executive director, Nigerian Heart Foundation, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), says, “The health system offers diagnosis and treatment only to those who pay for it.” Even when people do go for a medical check-up, diagnosis of such chronic conditions can be unreliable at the primary health level.
About 80 percent of Nigerians live on less than $2 (N724) daily, below the international benchmark for abject poverty. To check blood pressure in most hospitals costs at least N1,000. This means that well over 100 million Nigerians cannot afford this.
Medical experts have said repeatedly that in the prevention of lifestyle diseases, awareness plays a very important role. In this light, the World Diabetes Foundation has suggested a method. To increase awareness, school workshops need to be held once a month in secondary schools, targeting teachers, caterers, students and parents. The workshops will provide health education, awareness and sensitisation through cooking demonstrations, physical activity, and group discussions.
Awareness of lifestyle diseases is one leg of the problem; the other leg is how to prevent them. For instance, there are awareness campaigns targeting how one can prevent diabetes, cancer and other cardiovascular disorders.
In Nigeria, unfortunately, many people, even the educated class are not aware of these preventive methods. So, awareness plays an important role.
