Governments at national and subnational levels, development partners, and public health stakeholders have been urged to prioritise early screening and preventive care over costly late-stage treatment, as non-communicable diseases (NCDs), particularly hypertension-induced kidney failure, continue to quietly devastate Nigerian households.
The advocates said the call has become urgent, with many Nigerians unaware of their health risks and women in informal markets especially vulnerable due to limited time, resources, and access to care.
Speaking at a national roundtable on NCDs in Abuja on Monday, the Founder of The Kings Daughter Foundation, Ajobo Mary Oluwaseun, stressed the need to shift from reactive treatment to preventive measures, warning that widespread ignorance, poor screening culture, and reliance on unregulated herbal remedies are deepening the crisis.
“Cost is often cited as a barrier, but targeted prevention is cheaper than dialysis. A few minutes with a cuff and a counselling sheet can avert years of catastrophic spending for families who live day-to-day.
“Feeling ‘fine’ is not proof of being healthy, and ‘natural’ is not the same as safe,” Oluwaseun said.
Oluwaseun, who is a renal dialysis nurse, urged policymakers to invest in primary-level screening, integrate NCD checks into maternal and child health programs, and deploy mobile clinics to underserved areas.
Market-based outreach staffed by nurses and community health workers, she said, could deliver quick wins with on-the-spot blood pressure and glucose checks, early referrals, and multilingual health education materials.
Oluwaseun’s advocacy stems from frontline experience while recalling a mother’s shock at a dialysis clinic as her adult daughter, who had never smoked or drank alcohol, battled kidney failure caused by undiagnosed hypertension.
“Her condition had been silently destroying her kidneys since her teenage years. It reflects a system that reacts late rather than prevents early,” Oluwaseun said.
According to her, a similar pattern emerged during a screening exercise at Bodija Market, Ibadan, where out of 25 women tested, nine had dangerously high blood pressure but were unaware of their risk.
“Some dismissed the checks outright, prioritising their daily trade over health concerns”, she lamented.
The findings, Oluwaseun warned, underscored how NCDs often progress unnoticed among women who are central to household care but lack time, access, or resources for routine medical checks.
Reliance on traditional herbal remedies, often consumed without dosage guidance, further threatens kidney health, she explained.
While social media campaigns have raised awareness, Oluwaseun cautioned that many women in informal markets are excluded from online advocacy.
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“If advocacy remains digital-only, we risk widening the health gap. What is required are community-based interventions that meet women where they live and work, not where we hope they’d be.
“When the body speaks too late, the costs are crushing. The way forward is to listen earlier, at market stalls, clinic doorways, and every space where women carry the weight of their families, so that preventable diseases are caught before lives are put on hold,” she added.
On her part, Fatima Gidado, the Founder of MedForHer, pointed out that kidney disease is part of a larger NCD crisis alongside hypertension, diabetes, and sickle cell that silently steals women’s health in their most productive years.
“This is a major reason why we focus on bringing health education and screening directly to women in schools, markets, and underserved communities. We believe that no woman should suffer or die because she did not know.
“The fight against kidney disease and NCDs cannot be waged in silos. Nurses, advocates, NGOs, and policymakers must collaborate to put prevention at the centre of women’s health. Only then can we change the story from late detection to early protection.
“No woman should lose her life to what she never knew,” Gidado added.