Medical experts have raised alarm over the dangerous habit of Nigerians who assume every fever is both malaria and typhoid, warning that this wrong belief is fuelling drug resistance and complicating the fight against one of Nigeria’s deadliest diseases.
Speaking at a webinar organised by the Punch Media Foundation on Tuesday, medical practitioners and health advocates called for a collective fight against malaria, which killed an estimated 199,900 people in Nigeria in 2024 alone.
The webinar, titled “Malaria in Nigeria: A Shared Fight, A Collective Solution,” brought together health experts who spoke frankly about the myths, behavioural patterns, and systemic gaps fueling the malaria crisis.
Dr Kayode Adeshola, national president of the Association of Nigerian Private Medical Practitioners, said many Nigerians walk into hospitals demanding treatment for both malaria and typhoid without proper testing.
“If you try to make them understand that it could be malaria and ask them to do a simple test, some will walk out of your hospital just because you don’t want to put them on unnecessary drip,” Adeshola said.
“Almost every part of Nigeria, people are guilty of coming to the doctor with their own diagnosis. This is an unholy marriage between malaria and typhoid in the minds of patients.”
He warned that this behaviour leads to antibiotic resistance and improper treatment, adding that many patients abandon their medication after just two days once they start feeling better.
“You are supposed to take your drugs for three days. By the second day, you are feeling better and you abandon it. That is dangerous,” he said.
Beyond self-diagnosis, experts identified poor health insurance coverage, fake drugs, and lack of access to primary healthcare centres as major barriers.
Hajiya Samirah Faruk, founder of DPT Healthcare Foundation, shared her experience working in rural communities in Kano State, where she recalled meeting a young boy having convulsions while his parents believed he was possessed by an evil spirit.
“Our community health workers diagnosed severe malaria. That was what informed our pivot into malaria interventions,” she said.
She noted that Kano State declared a state of emergency on malaria in 2024, but many rural communities remain unknown to the government, lacking access roads, schools, or primary health centres.
“These communities exist, clusters of maybe 500 people, but the government doesn’t know they exist. We have a lot to do,” Faruk said.
Angela Ozo, a media expert, said the media has played a critical role in promoting insecticide-treated nets, indoor residual spraying, seasonal malaria chemoprevention, and the newly deployed R21 malaria vaccine.
“Since the Abuja declaration in 2000, the media has followed up on elimination targets, implementation, acceptance, and funding,” she said.
However, she noted that Nigeria has not met the target of allocating 15 percent of the national budget to health as agreed in the Abuja declaration.
“We cannot talk about malaria elimination without talking about adequate funding. Most primary healthcare centres are not working. How will people access treatment?” she asked.
The experts called for community engagement, better health insurance coverage, accurate testing before treatment, and a shift from discussion to action.
“The most impactful strategy is a community-to-clinic continuum. Awareness, access, affordability, and accountability,” Adeshola said.
Nigeria recorded an estimated 216,719 malaria deaths in 2023, according to IHME data cited in global health rankings. The country accounts for about 31% of global malaria deaths, per the 2024 World Malaria Report.
In 2025, Nigeria saw over 24 million confirmed malaria cases in the first nine months (January to September), per the Federal Ministry of Health’s National Health Statistics Report.
