Falling health indices show life expectancy among Nigerians diminishing

Lack of access to healthcare, rising incidences of diseases and debilitating stress caused by worsening economic condition are health indices that point to falling life expectancy among Nigerians.

Experts say to reduce the rise in Nigeria’s disease burden there is need for effective control measures to curtail diseases. This entails promotion of stress management and people need to adopt better lifestyle choices to reduce threats to life expectancy.

Life expectancy in among Nigerian males is 54.7, female 55.7 and total life expectancy is 55.2 which give Nigeria a World Life Expectancy ranking of 178, according to the latest World Health Organisation data published in 2018.

Reports show that Nigeria is among the worst in a country sample of 136 nations when it comes to poor healthcare delivery and insufficient access, says a new analysis published in The Lancet.

In February, Nigeria was ranked 187 out of 191 countries by an assessment that measures the level of compliance with the Universal Health Coverage (UHC), as very few among the populace are health insured, whereas even government provision for health is almost negligible.

“Providing health services without guaranteeing a minimum level of quality is ineffective, wasteful and unethical,” Muhammad Pate, co-chair of the commission and chief executive of Big Win Philanthropy and former minister of State for Health in Nigeria said.

The economic problems associated with the burden of diseases affecting the indices of health and life expectancy cannot be ignored.

Nigeria supposedly holds the title of the continent’s largest economy, only N1, 800 ($5) is what the 2018 budget provides for the health of over 190 million citizens, when the N340 billion health budget is calculated on per capita basis.

“What I always tell people is that lifestyle modification can prevent a lot of health diseases and extend life expectancy,” Oge Ilegbune, a general practitioner, head of strategy, development and outreach at Lakeshore Cancer Centre said.

According to her, most of the risk factors cut cross across the pathology and it still boils down to a healthy lifestyle.

“There is a need for people to engage in regular exercises, eat balanced diet, avoiding smoking, reduce alcohol intake, reduce stress, and get a good sleep.”

“It is important to be cautious of the environment in terms of pollution, including exhaust fumes from vehicles and other machines,” Ilegbune said.

The level of stress people face is huge in the country and stress reduces our immunity, when you do not get enough sleep as well, the body cannot replenish its self the way it’s meant to.

Statistics show that the top causes of deaths in Nigerians are influenza and pneumonia causing about 305,460 (15%), Diarrhoeal disease 186,218 (9.16%), tuberculosis 175,124 8(62%), HIV/AIDs 168.900 (8.31%) and malaria 112,371 (5.53%).

Similarily, Adesimbo Ukiri, chief executive officer, Avon HMO said When the economy suffers, peoples health gets worst because there is almost no aliment that stress and thinking does not contributes.

“When the body is under stress and people are not sleeping well, there immunity does not work as well and they fall ill more frequently and much more easily.”

“I keep on saying that you cannot separate economic growth from health, when you have a healthy workforce then they are more productive, able to think up creative, more innovatively and come up with solutions to what problem plaguing the society,” she added.

WHO report shows that Nigeria has only 5.2 per cent score in happiness adding that that contributes to put more Nigerians’ health at risk includes alcohol consumption with about 13.4 per cent, smoking both in male 17.4 per cent, female 1.4 per cent and obesity in male 4.6, female 13.1 per cent.

However, these are the top twenty causes of death data for Nigeria life expectancy which includes influenza and pneumonia, tuberculosis, diarrhoeal diseases, stroke and HIV/AIDS.

Others are coronary heart disease, liver disease, prostate cancer, diabetes mellitus, maternal conditions, malaria, breast cancer, meningitis, low birth weight, road traffic accidents, birth trauma, other injuries, falls, cervical cancer and lung disease.

ANTHONIA OBOKOH