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By Onche Odeh
The harvest of deaths in Kano just brought to the fore what has been hitherto happening in Nigeria. Beyond COVID-19, Nigerians have been dying in thousands per hour and being buried silently with no attempt to resolve the root causes of their deaths, most of which are obvious. Nigeria currently ranks top in the list of countries with highest deaths from Malaria. Common malaria?, you may want to curiously query. Yes. Figures from the WHO revealed that in 2018 alone (a year before the COVID-19 outbreak), 228 million cases of malaria were recorded globally. 405, 000 of those affected could not survive it. About 24% of these deaths were recorded in Nigeria.
While this is happening, it is pertinent to also point out that Nigeria with an estimated 1.9 million people living with HIV as at 2018 had the second largest HIV epidemic in the world. Unfortunately Many of the people living with HIV in the country are unaware of their status. Worse still, the low levels of access to antiretroviral treatment continues to put even those who know their status and in need of treatment on the brink, meaning many deaths in Nigeria are still directly linked to AIDS.
Alongside this Nigeria is classified ad the country with the fourth largest tuberculosis epidemic in the world. Their case is made even more precarious as most of them are prone to tuberculosis. This is a huge problem as HIV and TB co-infection is now becoming an increasing concern for people living with HIV.
Records have shown that about 63,000 people living with HIV in Nigeria are infected with TB each year. On the flip side, an estimated 407, 000 people who tested negative to HIV in Nigeria have found to get infected with TB each year ( in case you are thinking TB is synonymous with HIV).
Out of the HIV negative persons with TB, an estimated 115,000 HIV people die each year while an estimated 39,000 HIV positive people also die annually.
You may not appreciate what it means for 154,000 people to be dying each year from a single cause. The figures become real only at times like this when burials are allowed in few cemeteries like the case in Kano.
Meanwhile, we have not talked about the case of the over 59,000 women who die each year from complications during pregnancy and childbirth.
Meanwhile, in the past year, Nigerian recorded the highest number of under five children who died from pneumonia. If you are wondering how, this is it: An estimated 162,000 children died of pneumonia in 2018, the year just before COVID-19 outbreak. This translates to 443 deaths per day, or 18 deaths per hour.
If nothing, the outbreak of COVID-19 has revealed the frail health of many Nigerians, as most of the deaths recorded do far revealed underlying health issues among the deceased. It has also revealed the weakness in Nigeria’s health system.
The COVID-19 outbreak may have simply helped to put numbers to the death of ‘ordinary’ people in Nigeria unlike in the past when only the death of a ‘big person’ was taken note of. In most cases the ordinary person is made to believe that the death of their loved one is the will of God. Cases abound of how doctors, nurses and other health care personnel would easily give up on a patient even where there is enough opportunity to salvage things.
COVID-19 may just be the biggest opportunity for countries like Nigeria to unmask and resolve the real causes of needless daily deaths in Nigeria.
Onche Odeh is a Communication Development Expert /Strategist