Family Health

Most Nigerian parents have never seen a case of diphtheria. That was the point — it is one of the diseases the childhood vaccine was supposed to have ended. Which is exactly why the last few years have been such a shock. Nigeria has recorded more than 10,000 confirmed diphtheria cases in 2026 alone. Going further back, the country’s health agency counted 1,319 deaths between 2022 and early 2025, from more than 42,600 suspected cases across 37 states. The 2023 wave was officially Nigeria’s worst diphtheria outbreak in a decade — 13,387 confirmed cases and 598 deaths among them. ...

You know the scene. Someone runs a fever, feels weak, loses appetite. They go to a chemist or lab, do a quick test, and come back with a familiar verdict: “It’s malaria and typhoid.” Two prescriptions follow — an antimalarial and an antibiotic — and everyone nods, because this is simply how fever is treated in Nigeria. Here is the uncomfortable truth, from someone who reads these results for a living: that double diagnosis is often wrong, and the test most people trust for the “typhoid” half is one of the least reliable tools in the lab. This article isn’t about scaring you off treatment. It’s about getting the right treatment — because guessing wrong has a real cost, to your body and to everyone around you. ...

Fake medicines are having a frightening moment in Nigeria. In September 2025, NAFDAC announced the seizure of 277 cartons of fake, unregistered antimalarials — over ₦1.2 billion worth, close to half a million doses — concealed in a Lagos warehouse and falsely declared as spare parts, and warned it pointed to a wider counterfeit threat. The scale behind the headlines is real: a 2024 review of studies across Africa found that about 22.6% — roughly 1 in 5 — of the medicines sampled were substandard or falsified, and the World Health Organization reported that cases of fake and substandard medicines roughly doubled between 2019 and 2023. ...

“I’m young, I feel fine.” That single thought is how high blood pressure and diabetes catch so many Nigerians in their 20s and 30s — quietly, with no warning, until the damage is already done. These conditions are no longer “an old person’s problem.” This guide covers the numbers that matter and the simple steps that lower your risk. Watch: the 60-second version — then read on for the full guide. ...

Malaria is so common in Nigeria that many families treat it as routine — yet it still kills, especially children under five and pregnant women. Nigeria carries the world’s heaviest malaria burden, roughly a quarter of all cases globally (WHO). The good news: most malaria is preventable at home, with cheap, simple habits. Here’s exactly what works. First, how malaria actually spreads Malaria is passed by the bite of an infected female Anopheles mosquito, which bites mainly at night — dusk to dawn. It is not caught from food, dirty water you drink, or “the sun.” Because the mosquito bites at night and breeds in still water, that’s precisely where prevention wins. ...

Lassa fever kills roughly one in four confirmed patients in Nigeria — and the single biggest reason is that people reach hospital too late. It starts looking exactly like malaria, so it gets waved off. This guide covers the early signs, how it actually spreads, and the simple steps that protect your household. Last updated: 14 August 2026 · Outbreak figures shift weekly — check the latest NCDC situation reports. Watch: the 60-second version — then read on for the full guide. ...