Olumuyiwa Talabi, a retired accountant in his early forties, watches closely as a boy nervously holds a syringe. Years ago, Talabi ignored his own diabetes diagnosis because he assumed it would go away after a few doses of medicine. “I just took diabetes as one of those diseases that will get cured after taking prescribed medications,” he admitted as seen on Prime Progress.
When his condition worsened and relatives were also diagnosed, he realised the disease was lifelong. The experience led him to establish the Talabi Diabetes Centre (TDC), which now organises camps where children learn to inject insulin properly, understand healthy dieting and find solidarity.
Hundreds of kilometres north in Kano State, Bilkisu Abdullahi Usman remembers the sharp shoulder pain that started when she was 35. “I thought it was from hard work or harmattan cold,” she recalls
Only when the pain persisted and a local hospital measured her blood pressure did she learn she had hypertension. “I didn’t know something like BP could give you pain,” she admits.
Her husband managed her care, purchasing drugs from different pharmacists and sometimes following their advice instead of doctors’ instructions. After his death, Bilkisu suddenly had to choose between buying medicine and feeding her children. Medicines like Amlodipine or Lisinopril cost between ₦3,000 and ₦5,000 per month, nearly half of her subsistence farming income.
Without medication her blood pressure spikes, making her dizzy and unable to work, and the cost of emergency care climbs to around ₦30,000. Her 15‑year‑old son dropped out of school to take odd jobs so she could afford treatment. “If I could just go to the Primary Health Center and get my BP medicine for free, my son would be back in school,” she pleads.
These individual stories reveal the quiet suffering behind Nigeria’s rising burden of diabetes and hypertension, a non‑communicable diseases that are often diagnosed late, poorly understood and steeped in misinformation. While the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) estimates that around 2.99 million Nigerian adults (3 % of the population) live with diabetes, and modelling studies place hypertension prevalence between 30 % and 42 %, personal experiences show how knowledge gaps and misinformation shape lives.
In many parts of Nigeria, many illnesses are often explained through a spiritual lens. A 2025 study on the socio‑cultural aspects of diabetes notes that traditional healers are frequently consulted to diagnose and treat the disease using Ifa divination (throwing stones or cowries to seek supernatural answers).
In the Niger Delta, diabetes is sometimes attributed to hexes or curses, and treatment involves appeasing whoever cast the curse and the deity invoked. Complementary and alternative medicine is pervasive; researchers estimate that 80 %–90 % of health care in some communities is provided by traditional practitioners. A survey found that 46 % of people with diabetes use herbal treatments such as bitter leaf (Vernonia amygdale). These beliefs, rooted in cultural heritage, often clash with biomedical explanations and encourage people to seek cures outside hospitals.
A 2018 cross‑sectional study among diabetic patients in south‑western Nigeria found high levels of myths and misconceptions: about 50 % believed eating sugar causes diabetes; 27.7 % thought the disease is not serious; 89.1 % believed diabetics need a special diet; 73.3 % felt sugar must never be added to food; and 19.8 % believed diabetes can be treated solely by diet.
Such misbeliefs often lead patients to avoid balanced meals or to rely on herbal concoctions promoted as “natural” cures. Dr John Onyebueze, former president of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors, warns that these unregulated mixtures, commonly called agbo contain unknown ingredients and doses. “There might be some ingredients that are beneficial, but it has not been studied … the unwanted ingredients and sometimes some of the active ingredients that have not been studied create health hazards that include kidney failure and liver damage,” he explains.
In his experience, about two of every twenty patients he treated had used herbal remedies and developed acute kidney injuries or jaundice.
Nigeria’s mobile phone market means health advice can spread instantly through WhatsApp, Facebook, radio or informal networks. A review in the West African Journal of Medicine notes that these platforms have become key sources of health misinformation, leading to self‑diagnosis, inappropriate self‑medication and abandonment of evidence‑based treatment.
During the COVID‑19 pandemic, Nigeria Health Watch (NHW) launched a fact‑checking initiative using artificial intelligence tools like YouScan to monitor online chatter. They discovered that false claims about cures and prevention for chronic illnesses such as hypertension and diabetes were proliferating.
IDF research suggests that only 47 % of Nigerians with diabetes view their healthcare practitioner as the most useful source of information, while 21 % turn to Google.
The same research found that for popular search terms like “how to manage diabetes,” one in five results direct users to unverified sources, including websites selling products that claim to “wean people off insulin”.
The danger becomes clear when patients, overwhelmed by high drug prices or afraid of side effects, stop taking prescribed medications based on advice from social media influencers. A PUNCH news investigation described patients who abandoned antihypertensive drugs after watching online videos promising a natural cure, only to suffer kidney failure or stroke.
At Mushin market in Lagos, herbs seller Mrs Ramota Ishola described the surge in customers. “Because the prices of drugs have gone up, more people are coming to buy herbs. Though there is an increase in the price of our products, it is still cheaper than the orthodox drugs,” she said.
She noted that agbo for hypertension and diabetes is among her best‑selling products; with ₦500 someone can buy herbs for malaria or hypertension compared with ₦10,000 for hospital treatment. Another herbal doctor argued that demand is driven not by cost but by the perceived effectiveness of traditional medicine.
Healthcare workers face their own challenges. A survey stated that over one‑third of doctors and nurses said they lacked printed or digital educational materials to share with patients. Some primary health centres (PHCs) operate with outdated equipment or stockouts of essential medicines. Nigeria’s Hypertension Treatment Programme, launched by the Ministry of Health in 2022, has started integrating the WHO HEARTS package into PHCs, offering standardised treatment protocols and lifestyle counselling. As at 2024, the programme has enrolled 21,922 patients and increased blood‑pressure control rates from 32.5 % to 55.9 %, but coverage remains small relative to the national burden.
Diabetes and hypertension are called “silent killers” because people often have no symptoms until serious damage has happened. Complications include heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, blindness. Early detection and lifestyle modification can drastically reduce the risk of complications. Simple changes such as eating more vegetables, exercising regularly, avoiding smoking, and managing stress are proven to help. Regular checkups, even when one feels fine, are also essential.
Nigeria’s health authorities and WHO agree that many cases of hypertension and type-2 diabetes can be prevented or delayed through lifestyle choices. Major risk factors include high dietary salt, sugar, unhealthy fats, low physical activity, overweight or obesity, and harmful alcohol or tobacco use.
Prevention means doing things that help you stay healthy. Eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, beans, and whole grains. Use less salt, and avoid processed foods that contain too much sugar or unhealthy fat. Instead of adding a lot of salt, use natural spices like garlic, or ginger. Try not to fry your food often. Cook with little or no oil when you can. Stop smoking, drink less alcohol, manage stress, and stay active by exercising regularly. All these steps can help lower your risk of getting sick.
Maintaining a healthy weight is crucial. Overweight or obesity are strong risk factors for both hypertension and type-2 diabetes. For many Nigerians, losing even 5-10 per cent of body weight reduces risk significantly.
Early detection means checking your health before things get bad. For high blood pressure, it’s important to check your blood pressure often, even if you feel okay. In Nigeria, less than one out of every three people with high blood pressure even know they have it.
But lifestyle change is easier said than done. For many Nigerians, the daily struggle to survive makes healthy living seem like a luxury. How do you tell someone who has not eaten since morning to buy fruits or olive oil? People need affordable options and clear information they can trust.
Community-based education remains one of the strongest tools against diabetes and hypertension. Regular programs that explain what hypertension and diabetes really are, how they start, and how to manage them will help people make better decisions. When accurate information is shared in local languages and through trusted community voices, it makes a difference.
Children, too, are not left out. In several schools, teachers should regularly introduce short health talks about diet and exercise. Early education can build habits that last a lifetime. If a child learns to prefer water over soft drinks or understands why fruits matter, that knowledge can protect an entire family.
The growing number of Africans, especially Nigerians living with diabetes and hypertension is a wake-up call. These are not diseases of the rich or the old alone. They are conditions that thrive on silence, misinformation, and delay. Every skipped checkup, every ignored symptom, every herbal mixture taken without guidance adds to the burden.
The earlier people understand this, the fewer lives will be lost to preventable complications. The body always gives a warning. We just have to listen.
In Nigeria, where hospitals are stretched and the cost of treatment is high, accurate information is often the first medicine people need. When communities learn, lives are saved. And perhaps one day, fewer families will have to discover too late what a little knowledge could have prevented.
It is a promise that better access to health knowledge could prevent future stories of loss and make living with diabetes and hypertension less of a hidden battle and more of a shared, supported experience.