The Growing Population and Its Impact on Nigeria’s Healthcare System
Nigeria’s population is growing at an alarming rate, which presents both opportunities and challenges. With a median age of about 18 years, the country has a large, young, and potentially productive population. However, this demographic advantage is overshadowed by significant issues, including poor education and high unemployment rates. Many young people are turning to crime and drugs, further complicating the situation.
The rapid population growth places immense pressure on Nigeria’s healthcare system. Imagine a small clinic built for 100 people suddenly being overwhelmed by 500 patients daily. This is the reality for many Nigerian health facilities. The government struggles to keep up with the demand for new hospitals, trained doctors, and essential medicines. In Lagos, for instance, there are fewer than 7,000 doctors serving a population that requires around 30,000. Nurses face similar shortages, leading to long waiting times and inadequate care.
Healthcare facilities often lack basic amenities such as clean water, electricity, and sufficient beds. Diseases like cholera, Lassa fever, malaria, and HIV/AIDS continue to spread, especially in crowded areas with poor sanitation. At the same time, lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer are on the rise due to urbanization and changes in diet. This “double burden” makes it difficult for the healthcare system to address all these challenges effectively.
Maternal and child deaths remain alarmingly high. Many women give birth at home or with traditional birth attendants, increasing the risk of complications. Newborns are particularly vulnerable, with many dying from preventable causes such as infections, lack of oxygen, or premature birth. Even though fewer older children are dying now than before, newborn deaths have not improved significantly.
Most Nigerians pay for healthcare out of their own pockets, as there is no safety net to support them. Families often face impossible choices, such as buying medicine or food. Traditional birth attendants and caregivers are frequently used, even when the costs exceed what hospitals might charge. This financial burden pushes millions deeper into poverty each year.
Poor living conditions outside the clinics also contribute to the spread of diseases. Many Nigerians live in homes without clean drinking water or toilets, forcing them to defecate in the open. These conditions lead to the rapid spread of diarrhoea, cholera, typhoid, and respiratory infections. Despite government efforts to improve sanitation and provide clean water, the cycle continues.
For the wealthy, accessing quality healthcare is easier, with options such as private hospitals and international treatment. However, for the majority of Nigerians, the situation is dire. Local clinics often lack drugs, doctors, and running water, leading to higher rates of disease and death in poorer areas.
The government is aware of the crisis and is taking steps to rebuild primary healthcare centers and produce more medicines locally. Family planning initiatives are also being promoted to help slow population growth. While the fertility rate has decreased slightly, it remains among the highest in the world. In some communities, there is resistance to family planning, with many young women leaving marriages to start anew with the hope of having more children.
Nigeria faces a complex challenge: too many people, too little money for health, and too few hospitals, nurses, and doctors. Preventable diseases kill millions, mothers and babies die needlessly, and families go bankrupt from medical bills. The healthcare system is overwhelmed, and the situation is worsening.
It is like trying to fill a swimming pool with a cup while the pool keeps getting bigger every day. This vicious cycle reinforces the anguish of poverty, ignorance, and disease, and the problems are only just beginning.
Questions and Answers
Good evening, Dr Sylvester. Thank you for the wonderful charity work you have been doing for us over the years through the Sunday PUNCH newspaper. May Almighty God continue to protect, guide, and guard you always.
My daughter, who is 19 years old, has been coughing constantly for years. We have done tests to ascertain the cause of the cough, and the laboratory results keep coming out negative, with no underlying illness detected, but the cough has persisted.
She is currently at the university. I have told her to stop using cough syrup and antibiotics for now until she comes back from school in September, or, if she has a free period, to come home for another comprehensive test at a reputable laboratory in Lagos.
This problem started when she inhaled a mixture of Hypo and Harpic while washing the toilet at home. Is there anything you can recommend for us for now, perhaps? I have also told her to stop drinking cold water and avoid harsh perfumes, body sprays, deodorants, air conditioners, or anything that could trigger the cough for now, so that we can see what the outcome will be.
Thank you for your understanding and kindness. 08093002000
Good day, doctor. Perhaps it will help if, once in a while, you publish guidelines for letters sent to you, advising readers to always include the sender’s gender, age, and other basic details. Thank you. 08148138000
Good day, Doctor. In response to your article in The PUNCH newspaper on Sunday, May 23, 2026, I wish to request an appointment with you. Thank you. 08022224000
Good day to you. If you are referring to the essay titled Understanding ED Will Help You Manage It, you will benefit more from the advice several other readers have been given since then, which is that they should begin their journey towards solving this problem by being examined by a doctor.
The remaining aspect of their journey towards improved sexual health will then be directed by that doctor through appropriate guidance and referrals.
Please, sir, good morning to you. The results I will forward to you on WhatsApp belong to my younger brother, who is 41 years old.
He developed jaundice about six weeks ago, but before then, he was always complaining of stomach pain. He said it felt like heartburn, and he went to a hospital here in Abuja. He was placed on ulcer medication because the doctor told him he had a peptic ulcer.
He does not eat well. He is losing weight, perhaps because he is not eating properly. But now, despite the medicines he was given, he does not even sleep. He is in pain all the time.
I do not know if you understand Yoruba, sir, but I will also forward the voice note he sent to me just five days ago. He is itching all over his body.
I am a nurse, and I advised him to do an abdominal scan, which he did before the doctor advised him to undergo a CT scan of the abdomen. Both reports are there. They also recommended another test. I do not know what that one is, please.
What do we do? 08133297000
Thank you very much for your detailed history and question. To be brief, this looks like lymphoma, mainly because of his age. However, the description indicates that it is more likely to be cancer of the pancreas, which is very surprising given his age.
Unfortunately, it has already spread to the liver and has also grown around the major blood vessels in that area. That seems to be the major reason why he is losing weight. This makes the overall outlook much worse.
Therefore, surgery is no longer possible in his case. The report is recommending an MRCP (Magnetic Resonance Cholangiopancreatography) examination, which is a way of introducing a contrast material into the body so that the bile ducts, gallbladder, and pancreatic duct can be examined in detail with the benefit of MRI. This will help evaluate the severity of his condition and assist in mapping out a treatment plan, including the possible placement of a stent to relieve the obstruction.
Unfortunately, there can be no hope of a cure; the disease is already too advanced.
Question:
Dear Doctor, good day to you. I am a 54-year-old woman, and I have suffered from pain in my lower back for more than 24 years. I attribute the pain to the three times I was given spinal anaesthesia for my caesarean sections. The first time, the doctors inserted the needle into my back up to four times.
When the pain starts, I am usually miserable because the area feels as though it is being hit with a hammer, and the pain spreads to the back of my right thigh. I have been to the Orthopaedic Hospital here in Lagos and also to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, where X-rays and other tests were done.
Now, they have told me that I need to do an MRI of the spine to take my investigations further. I am so confused. What should I do?
08028261000
Answer:
There is no reason for you to be confused about your current situation because, between the Orthopaedic Hospital and LUTH, you have access to some of the best doctors available to manage your condition.
It is important that you follow their instructions because, while you link the onset of this pain to your unpleasant experience with spinal anaesthesia, the cause of the pain could be something else. That possibility needs to be explored so that you can receive the proper treatment your back requires.
Question:
Good morning, Doctor. The way my body has been feeling over the last three weeks is difficult to describe. I was treated for malaria by the doctor at my office clinic with Fansidar tablets. Although I felt better, I was no longer able to sleep.
After about four days, I went to my HMO, where they carried out a number of tests and later confirmed that I had malaria and typhoid. They prescribed P-Alaxin and Ciprofloxacin for seven days. I completed the treatment, but I still do not sleep well, and I experience a kind of internal heat between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. every evening. Then the headache starts.
Yesterday night, I almost lost consciousness when a nurse who is my neighbour checked my blood pressure and found it to be 180/88mmHg. Now I am afraid that I may be having a stroke. Please advise me.
08033672000
Answer:
Thank you for your detailed history. You have done the right thing by seeing doctors regarding your complaints.
The likely reason for the rise in your blood pressure may be your inability to sleep properly. Stroke does not usually begin in this manner, and although you did not indicate your age, gender, or occupation, you are most likely an adult.
Therefore, the first thing is to ensure that you are able to sleep properly. To achieve this, you may need to repeat your malaria tests to determine whether the infection has been successfully treated. If it has, your doctors will follow the normal protocols to help you regain healthy sleep.
If the malaria has not cleared, which can happen for several reasons, another antimalarial medication may be prescribed to ensure your return to good health.
The most likely cause of your current dilemma is that you did not follow up adequately with the doctors managing your treatment.
Question:
Good day, Sunday Doctor. My baby is three weeks old and will be one month old soon. I noticed a swelling on the right side of his neck shortly after delivery. I showed it to the nurses, and they informed the doctor. The doctor said it would go away.
However, it has not gone away, and now the swelling has become hard. My baby cannot turn his head properly to the left side. We went to another hospital and, after some tests, they advised us to do a CT scan. Another doctor said we should do an MRI.
Sir, we do not have the kind of money they are asking for. Please help us. This is my first baby, and we do not know what to do. Thank you, sir.
07040667000
Answer:
Well, this swelling is visible in the middle of the neck. Although the picture quality is poor, it appears to be related to the manner in which your baby was delivered.
There was likely some bleeding into the belly of that muscle, and the blood has congealed over time, so that what you described above as “the thing” has now become a solid lump.
I will not bother you with its medical name, but what your baby needs is gentle physiotherapy to massage the muscle and gradually turn the neck from side to side. Do not attempt to do this yourself.
With proper physiotherapy, the lump should gradually reduce in size and soften.
