Nigeria is losing at least $400 million annually in productivity to hypertension, while a massive 99.8 per cent funding gap continues to undermine efforts to prevent and control the disease, the Legislative Initiative for Sustainable Development (LISDEL) has warned.
LISDEL also disclosed that only about four per cent of Nigerians living with hypertension have their blood pressure under control, leaving millions at risk of stroke, diabetes, disability and other potentially fatal complications.
Policy Officer at LISDEL, Olympus Ade-Banjo, disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja while speaking on the topic, “Economic Case Analysis and Recommendations on Hypertension/NCD,” during a masterclass on reporting the underfunding of hypertension and other noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) in Nigeria.
The masterclass examined government funding for hypertension and other NCDs in the 2025 and 2026 federal budget cycles.
Ade-Banjo said the economic burden of hypertension goes beyond deaths and hospital admissions, as patients and their families spend huge sums on lifelong treatment while the country loses productive hours when affected persons are unable to work.
According to him, between 30 and 37 per cent of hypertension patients on treatment achieve their target blood pressure, showing that treatment adherence remains a major challenge.
“This is beyond awareness. The first one is an issue of being aware that you have hypertension. The second one is being able to adhere, being able to continue to buy those drugs,” he said.
He said an estimated 30 to 38 per cent of Nigerians were not adequately sensitised about hypertension, translating into tens of millions of people who may be unaware of the risks and consequences of the condition.
Ade-Banjo warned that poor awareness also fuels misconceptions about hypertension and could delay access to proper medical care.
He said the financial burden on households was equally alarming, with an average family spending between $20 and $55 monthly on hypertension-related care.
The LISDEL policy officer said the cost of treatment could push vulnerable households into poverty, forcing them to choose between paying for healthcare and meeting basic needs.
“Imagine 48.2 per cent of people that are affected by hypertension are exposed to impoverishment. It is making you choose between health or food,” he said.
Ade-Banjo said hypertension and other NCDs were imposing huge economic costs on Nigeria through lost productivity, with the minimum annual productivity loss estimated at $400 million.
He, however, expressed concern that government funding for the prevention and control of hypertension does not reflect the scale of the crisis.
According to him, only 0.05 per cent of Nigeria’s health budget in 2025 was allocated specifically to hypertension, leaving a 99.8 per cent gap in the level of government investment required for effective control of the disease.
On NCDs generally, he said only about six per cent of the national health budget was allocated to the broad category, despite NCDs accounting for more than 30 per cent of deaths in the country.
He further disclosed that only about 10 per cent of activities contained in the government’s multisectoral action plans for combating hypertension had been implemented.
The outstanding interventions, he said, include public awareness, research, access to medicines and improved service delivery.
Ade-Banjo, however, said Nigeria could significantly improve hypertension outcomes if available resources were strategically deployed.
He cited the ACTS programme, which focuses on standard treatment protocols, task-sharing, patient registration and monitoring, health insurance linkages and digital platforms for tracking patients.
According to him, the intervention has demonstrated that better results can be achieved when primary healthcare facilities are equipped to manage uncomplicated cases and patients have consistent access to medicines and follow-up care.
He said interventions under the programme recorded a 2.7 per cent improvement in blood pressure control, a 2.1 per cent increase in diabetes control, a 4.8 per cent rise in patients receiving treatment and a 5.2 per cent increase in registered patients.
“These things can be done. It works if we are able to do all of those different activities by, for instance, providing the drugs at the right time, empowering the facilities to go out to do the outreaches, putting them on a digital platform and tracking each of the patients and lastly, of course, monitoring the progress,” he said.
Ade-Banjo said an investment of about $1.7 billion over 15 years, or more than $113 million annually, could produce significant returns through lives saved, deaths averted and productivity preserved.
He identified primary healthcare centres as the most efficient platform for delivering hypertension and other NCD interventions, saying they could reduce costs by bringing services closer to communities.
He urged the Federal Government to prioritise the actual release of funds for NCD programmes rather than making budgetary allocations that are not fully implemented.
Ade-Banjo recommended a dedicated budget line for the national NCD programme, including an immediate annual investment of about $113 million, while also calling for the expansion of the ACTS programme to primary healthcare facilities across the country.
He also urged the government to involve patients and affected communities in the design, implementation and monitoring of health programmes.
According to him, the recommendations are still being refined through stakeholder engagement before being presented to relevant government authorities as policy advice.
Ade-Banjo also challenged journalists covering hypertension and other NCDs to embrace solutions journalism by reporting not only the challenges but also interventions capable of producing measurable results.
“This is where you can also test solutions while you are covering an event rather than just everything is bad, everything is bad,” he said.
