Abuja, April 3, 2025 – Public health experts are sounding the alarm over the escalating financial burden that antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is placing on Nigeria’s already fragile healthcare system. With resistant infections driving up treatment costs, prolonging hospital stays, and threatening Universal Health Coverage (UHC), specialists warn that the economic fallout could derail decades of medical progress unless urgent action is taken.
A Growing Crisis
AMR—where bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites evolve to withstand drugs once effective against them—is no longer a distant threat but a present-day crisis in Nigeria. Experts interviewed by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday highlighted how this “silent pandemic” is stretching an underfunded healthcare network to its limits. Dr. Tochi Okwor, Head of Disease Prevention and Control at the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), cited a 2022 study showing AMR contributes to over 250,000 excess hospital days annually, costing billions of naira. “Treating resistant infections can be up to 10 times more expensive than non-resistant ones,” she said, pointing to the need for costlier drugs and intensive care.
Dr. Sati Nguluku, Director of the National Veterinary Research Institute in Plateau State, echoed this, noting that patients who once required simple antibiotics now face prolonged hospitalizations and intravenous treatments. “These additional costs overwhelm families and the system,” he said. Nigeria ranks 19th out of 204 nations for AMR-related mortality, with 263,400 deaths annually—64,500 directly from resistant infections—per a 2025 Independent Newspaper report.
Economic and Social Toll
The financial strain extends beyond direct healthcare costs. Okwor emphasized productivity losses as workers fall ill longer or die prematurely, a concern amplified by Nigeria’s 3.8% projected GDP decline from AMR by 2050, according to experts at a recent Management Sciences for Health (MSH) training. Globally, AMR could cost $100 trillion by mid-century, and Nigeria’s share of that burden is growing. “Families are bankrupted by treatments, and the healthcare system diverts resources from other critical needs,” Nguluku warned.
The misuse of antibiotics in agriculture—particularly in poultry farming—exacerbates the problem. Excessive use to boost livestock growth fuels resistance, with counterfeit drugs flooding markets adding to the chaos, per Dr. Tunde Sigbeku of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC). “Simple infections could soon become untreatable,” he cautioned, urging tighter regulations.
A System Under Pressure
Nigeria’s healthcare system, reliant on out-of-pocket payments for over 60% of expenses, struggles to cope. A 2022 Lancet report pegged bacterial AMR at 4.95 million associated deaths globally in 2019, with sub-Saharan Africa bearing a heavy load. In Nigeria, the NCDC’s 2017-2022 National Action Plan (NAP) aimed to curb AMR but faced hurdles—poor surveillance, weak enforcement, and limited diagnostics. The new NAP 2.0, launched in October 2024, promises a “One Health” approach, integrating human, animal, and environmental strategies, yet funding and coordination remain shaky.
Posts on X reflect the urgency: “AMR is bleeding Nigeria’s healthcare dry—time for action,” one user wrote, mirroring expert calls for public awareness and policy reform. The 2026 High-Level Ministerial Conference on AMR, set to be hosted by Nigeria, underscores its stake in this global fight.
A Call to Action
Experts agree the clock is ticking. “We’re heading toward a post-antibiotic era unless we act now,” Okwor said, advocating for better stewardship, education, and investment in new drugs. With 7 in 10 Nigerians accessing antibiotics outside licensed channels and hospitals overprescribing beyond WHO’s 60% target, the stakes are dire. As Nguluku put it, “The economic losses, paired with rising mortality, could be catastrophic.” For a nation aiming for UHC, AMR isn’t just a health issue—it’s an economic reckoning demanding a unified response.
