As healthcare costs rise and access to doctors becomes increasingly difficult, many Nigerians are turning to unqualified social media content creators for medical diagnosis. BusinessDay’s YOUSUPH ADEBAYO examines the growing culture of digital diagnosis amid deepening infrastructure gaps in Nigeria’s healthcare system.
When her stomach pain began, Ada Okafor dismissed it as a minor discomfort that would eventually disappear. But the ache refused to leave, instead it lingered until the next day.
She reached for her phone. A few taps on TikTok gave her the answers she wanted at no cost.
Within minutes, she found videos from creators describing symptoms similar to hers, lower abdominal pain, bloating, gastric discomfort and a hard abdomen. The explanations also came quickly.
“I was just trying to avoid going to the hospital, the last time I did, it cost me almost all my monthly salary, and you know how general hospitals can be,”
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