Gov’t urged to declare state of emergency on diabetes
The Federal Government has been urged to declare a state of emergency on diabetes in Nigeria. The President of the Diabetes Association of Nigeria, Prof. Ejiofor Ugwu, made the call while speaking to journalists at the body’s 2025 National Diabetes Symposium in Abuja on Thursday. “The government should declare a state of emergency in diabetes […]
The Federal Government has been urged to declare a state of emergency on diabetes in Nigeria.
The President of the Diabetes Association of Nigeria, Prof. Ejiofor Ugwu, made the call while speaking to journalists at the body’s 2025 National Diabetes Symposium in Abuja on Thursday.
“The government should declare a state of emergency in diabetes care in Nigeria.
“So, the Nigerian government needs to assemble all the relevant stakeholders to come to a roundtable and formulate a national diabetes policy and strategic plan to be able to curb this epidemic,” he said.
Prof. Ugwu also called on the federal government to immediately consider tax waivers on essential diabetes medications and consumables.
“Because more than 90 percent of the medications we use in this country are imported, and these things land at high cost. So, if the federal government decides to remove tax on their importation, it will translate to reduced costs.
“Then, the government should also grant subsidy in these diabetes medications and consumables so that the prices can come down. Now, this is the immediate thing that the government can do,” he said.
The NAD president also demanded the expansion of the national health insurance coverage to include care for diabetic patients, adding that diabetes care is still not comprehensive in national health insurance coverage.
“There are a lot of diabetes medications that are not covered,” he said.
He lamented that Nigeria is losing many citizens to diabetes, as many who couldn’t afford the drugs have succumbed to death, while many are already incapacitated.
Prof. Ugwu said government intervention is needed to curb the rising deaths as a result of the disease.