By Sola Ogundipe Ganiat Ojo believed the headache would eventually disappear. The 55-year-old petty trader had lived with the pain for months, brushing it off as the price of long days at the market and the constant struggle to provide for her family. Like many Nigerians, she hardly ever checked her blood pressure.
There was always another bill to settle, another customer waiting and yet another reason to put off a trip to the hospital. Then, one afternoon, she collapsed in her shop. Neighbours thought she had simply been overwhelmed by exhaustion, but they rushed her to hospital anyway.
Doctors later confirmed she had suffered a massive stroke caused by severe, uncontrolled hypertension. She never regained consciousness and died the following day, leaving behind four children. Stories like hers play out quietly across Nigeria every day.
Yet taken together, they expose one of the country’s biggest public health tragedies: millions of Nigerians are dying years, and sometimes decades, earlier than they should. Estimates from the United Nations Population Division and the World Bank put life expectancy at birth in Nigeria at about 54 years, among the lowest anywhere in the world. The global average, by comparison, now exceeds 73 years, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
In countries such as Japan, Switzerland and Singapore, living into one’s 80s or even 90s is no longer exceptional. Health experts say the reasons stretch well beyond medicine. Poverty, weak health systems, poor nutrition, environmental hazards, chronic stress, limited access to healthcare and widening social inequalities all shape how long Nigerians live.
Timeline of progress Life expectancy reflects how well a country protects the health and wellbeing of its people from birth through old age. At independence in 1960, a Nigerian could expect to live for about 37 years, according to World Bank estimates. Infectious diseases were widespread, child mortality was extremely high and healthcare services were scarce, especially outside major towns and cities.
Summary from source