The burden of stroke in Nigeria

Stroke is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, and it is likely to worsen in developing countries over the next two decades based on the projections by the World Health Organization (WHO). With the current scourge of HIV/AIDS and the battle against other communicable diseases like multi-drug resistant malaria and tuberculosis; Nigeria, the most populous black nation in the world, stands to risk the further straining of its resources as a result of the increasing prevalence of stroke and other cardiovascular diseases due to epidemiological transition. The current prevalence of stroke in Nigeria is 1.14 per 1000 while the 30-day case fatality rate is as high as 40%. Management of the disease is largely conservative while there is little or no funding for high-quality research. Primary prevention is the key to reducing the burden of the disease in a country with such poor resources.