Health Point

Health Point: Health, in plain language

Short, honest health articles in plain language, written for readers in Nigeria.

Healthy Living

  • Losing weight safely: what actually works: There is no secret to this, and nothing you 'need' to buy. What follows is the ordinary advice, written for a Nigerian kitchen and a Nigerian week. You 'could' decide to buy some things because it helps you put in more effort.
  • Checking your weight: waist and BMI: You do not need a clinic, a machine or an app for this. A tailor's tape and a phone are enough, and the whole thing takes five minutes. Here is how to do both checks properly, and what the numbers mean.
  • Your weight and your health: Nobody enjoys being told to lose weight. So this page is not about how you look. It is about what extra weight does inside the body. It also covers how to check whether yours is a problem, and how small a change has to be before it starts helping.
  • I have found a breast lump: what should I do?: Finding a lump is frightening. Take a breath: most breast lumps are harmless, and the ones that are not are far easier to treat when they are found early. Here is what to do next, step by step.
  • High blood pressure: why it matters and what to do: High blood pressure causes damage quietly, over years, in people who feel perfectly well. That is exactly why it is worth treating – and why treatment only works if you continue
  • Checking your blood pressure: Small things change a blood pressure reading a lot – a rushed walk to the clinic, a full bladder, talking while the cuff inflates. A few simple habits give you a number worth trusting.
  • What do the blood pressure numbers mean?: Someone wraps a band around your arm, it squeezes, and then you are told two numbers as your blood pressure. Most people nod and accept the reading without an idea of what the numbers mean. Here is the whole thing, in plain words.

Conditions

  • Ebola history: from 1976 to the 2014 outbreak and the 2026 epidemic: Ebola history matters for one reason: Nigeria has faced Ebola before and won. What happened in the Ebola 2014 outbreak, both what went wrong and what worked, is the best guide to what to do now.
  • Ebola in Nigeria: latest update on the 2026 outbreak: This is the page for the latest on the Ebola outbreak in Nigeria and the wider 2026 Ebola virus outbreak. It covers what has happened, what the government is doing, the outbreak in the rest of Africa, and what you should do. For what Ebola is and how it spreads, see the other pages in this series.
  • How Ebola spreads, and how to protect yourself: Knowing exactly how Ebola is transmitted is the best protection against both the virus and the panic. Ebola is serious, but it is not easy to catch. This page explains how the Ebola virus spreads, how it does not, and what you can do to keep yourself and your family safe.
  • Ebola symptoms: the first signs and what to do: Ebola virus signs and symptoms are easy to mistake for malaria or typhoid, especially at the start. This page explains the Ebola symptoms to look out for, in the order they usually come. It also explains the one question that matters more than any symptom: has this person been near Ebola?
  • What is Ebola? Ebola virus disease explained: Ebola is scary, and fear spreads faster than the virus. This page explains, in plain words, what Ebola is, what causes Ebola, the different Ebola strains, and what to do if you are worried. The other pages in this series cover Ebola symptoms, how Ebola spreads, the outbreak in Nigeria now, and the history of Ebola.
  • NSIP (non-specific interstitial pneumonia): This page is for information only. NSIP is uncommon, and it can only be diagnosed with a CT scan and specialist tests.
  • Bronchiectasis: This page is for information only. Bronchiectasis is diagnosed with a CT scan, so a doctor is the one who can confirm it.
  • Emphysema: This page is for information. If you think you have emphysema, a doctor needs to test your breathing — nothing here can tell you for certain.
  • Pneumonia treatment: antibiotics, drugs and recovery: Pneumonia treatment is one of the clearest wins in medicine: the right antibiotic, started early, turns a killer into an illness you recover from in a fortnight. The problems in Nigeria are delay, the wrong drugs bought loose at the chemist, and courses stopped halfway.
  • Pneumonia or something else? Bronchitis, flu, TB and other lung problems: "Chest problem" covers a dozen different illnesses in everyday Nigerian speech, and they are treated very differently. This page sorts them out: what pneumonia is not, and when a cough is pointing at something else entirely.
  • Preventing pneumonia: vaccines, smoke and clean hands: Most pneumonia deaths in Nigeria are preventable. The things that prevent them are free or cheap: vaccines at the health centre, a cleaner kitchen, breastfeeding, and soap. Here they are, in order of how much difference each one makes.
  • Pneumonia symptoms: signs in adults and children: Most pneumonia in Nigeria is missed at home, not at the hospital. The signs are there, but nobody has been shown what to look for. This page shows you — including how to count a child's breathing with nothing but a phone clock.
  • Pneumonia: meaning, causes and who gets it: Pneumonia kills more Nigerian children than malaria does, and it is still treated as "ordinary cough" in most homes. This page explains the meaning of pneumonia, what causes it, and who is most at risk. The rest of the series covers the symptoms, the treatment and how to prevent it.
  • Preventing a Stroke: People often talk about stroke as if it just happens, like an accident. The research says otherwise. Most of what causes stroke builds up slowly, out of things that can be checked and changed. This page is about changing them.
  • Treatment for stroke: Treatment for stroke has two parts. The first part happens in hours: saving as much of the brain as possible. The second part takes months: helping the body learn to move, talk and live again. Families are central to both.
  • What Causes Stroke: People ask it in many ways: what causes stroke, what leads to stroke, what are the causes of stroke? The answer is the same every time. A stroke is the end of a long story about disease in the blood vessels, and most of that story can be changed.
  • Stroke: meaning, types and what to do: A stroke happens in seconds. What happens next depends mostly on what the family does in the first few hours. This page explains the meaning of stroke, the types of stroke, and exactly what to do.
  • Breast cancer in men and in young women: Two groups are missed again and again: men, and women under 40. Both are told the same thing – that breast cancer does not happen to people like them. It does.
  • Breast cancer treatment: Breast cancer treatment is not one thing. It is a plan, usually with two or three parts, built around the type and stage of your cancer. Knowing what each part does makes the plan easier to follow.
  • Checking your breasts and breast cancer screening: Most breast cancers in Nigeria are found by the woman herself. That makes checking your own breasts the most useful health habit in this series – and it is free.
  • Breast cancer: Overview: Breast cancer is the commonest cancer in Nigerian women. It is also the one most often found too late. This series explains the signs of breast cancer, how to check your own breasts, what breast cancer screening involves, and what breast cancer treatment means.
  • How to Prevent Malaria: Malaria is preventable. The tools that work in Nigeria — nets, preventive medicines, the new vaccine, and clearing breeding sites — work best used together, not one instead of another.
  • How to prevent typhoid fever: Typhoid only spreads when the bacteria get from someone's waste into another person's mouth, through water, food or unwashed hands. Breaking that chain at home protects your whole household.
  • Is the Widal test reliable?: The Widal test is the test most Nigerians are given when they have a fever. It is also the main reason typhoid is over-diagnosed in Nigeria. Here is what it actually measures, and what to ask for instead.
  • Typhoid tests and treatment: Getting the diagnosis right matters as much as the treatment. Typhoid is confirmed by growing the bacteria from a sample in a laboratory, and treated with antibiotics chosen to match what is still working in your area.
  • Typhoid symptoms and when to get help: Typhoid symptoms build up slowly over several days, which is one reason people delay getting help. Knowing what to look for – and which signs are dangerous – helps you get treated before complications start.
  • Typhoid Fever: Typhoid is a real and serious problem in Nigeria, but it is also diagnosed far more often than it actually happens. Many fevers labelled "typhoid" are really malaria or another infection. This series explains how to protect yourself, how typhoid is properly tested for, and why buying antibiotics without a proper diagnosis can do more harm than good.
  • Typhoid or malaria? How to tell the difference: In Nigeria, a fever is often treated as "typhoid and malaria" at the same time. They are different infections, caught in different ways, and each needs its own test and its own treatment.
  • Fever in Children: What should parents be worried about?: Most fevers in children settle within a few days and are caused by infections the body deals with on its own. A small number are the start of something serious, and the difference usually shows in how the child looks and behaves, not in the thermometer reading.
  • Malaria in pregnancy: Pregnancy lowers your body's defence against malaria, and the parasite can settle in the placenta where it starves the baby of food and oxygen. Most of the harm is preventable with steps you can start at your first antenatal visit.
  • Malaria: Malaria is a serious infection spread by mosquito bites — one of the commonest causes of fever in Nigeria, and a leading cause of death in young children. It can be prevented, and cured when found and treated early.
  • Malaria tests and treatment: Malaria treatment works best when it is given to the right person at the right time. That starts with a test — because treating every fever as malaria leaves other serious illnesses undiagnosed and wastes the medicines that keep malaria curable.
  • Malaria symptoms and when to get help: The early symptoms of malaria are shared by many illnesses, so a test comes before treatment. The signs that matter most are the ones that say the infection has become severe — fits, confusion, difficulty breathing, dark urine.
  • Malaria in pregnancy: Malaria in pregnancy can harm both mother and baby, often without making the mother feel very ill. Early antenatal care and preventive treatment protect both.
  • Malaria tests and treatment: A positive test should come before any malaria medicine. Here is how testing works in Nigeria and which treatments are recommended.
  • Malaria symptoms and when to get help: Fever is the main sign of malaria, but not every fever is malaria and not every malaria case starts with a high fever. Here is what to watch for and when to get help the same day.

Articles

  • Signs and symptoms of breast cancer: Most people expect breast cancer to hurt. Usually it does not, and that is why the symptoms of breast cancer get ignored. Here is what to look for.

Nutrition