Recovering at home after a stroke in Nigeria, when the family is abroad

Stroke in Nigeria, in numbers

• The SIREN study, the largest in Africa, recorded a mean age of 59 among 2,118 stroke patients in Nigeria and Ghana. High blood pressure accounted for 91% of the population risk; 68% of strokes were ischaemic (a blockage) and 32% haemorrhagic (a bleed).
• Across 16 hospitals in Nigeria and Ghana, 21.8% of stroke patients died in hospital: 18% after an ischaemic stroke and 31% after a bleed. Only 5 of the 16 hospitals had a stroke unit.
• A 2022 survey of 58 Nigerian tertiary hospitals found dedicated stroke units in five and clot-busting treatment (thrombolysis) available in two. All 58 had a CT scanner. Many patients arrive more than six hours after the stroke, past the window for thrombolysis.

The hospital stay and what it costs

• Stroke patients at University College Hospital, Ibadan stayed 13.7 days on average; at a rural teaching hospital in Edo State in 2021, 17.6 days. About 4% of patients left against medical advice, usually because money ran out.
• In a study at Ile-Ife, the median cost of a stroke admission was N83,770, of which the brain scan alone was 47%; 72% of families paid entirely out of pocket. Those are 2018 prices and everything has risen since; a 2023 review found that 40% of stroke patients could not afford the CT or MRI scan they needed.
• A Lagos brain CT was N38,800 to N42,000 in 2021, the last published comparison; ask the hospital for its current price and whether a subsidised scan is offered.

Rehabilitation at home, 2025 prices

• Physiotherapy in Nigeria runs from about N2,000 to N5,000 a session in a public hospital, N5,000 to N10,000 in a private hospital and N10,000 to N20,000 in private practice. A home visit is N3,000 to N10,000 a session (national guide, September 2025). How often, and for how long, is for the treating team to set.
• A registered nurse at home costs about N219,000 to N259,000 a month in Lagos and a caregiver about N119,000 to N159,000 (May 2026). Which of the two is needed depends on what the person can do for themselves, which the discharging team can say.
• Nigerian rehabilitation studies record high drop-out: a 12-month balance programme lost 40% more of its cognitively impaired participants, and speech-therapy adherence was 70%. The family abroad's job is mostly keeping people turning up.

Preventing the second stroke

• The SIREN study attributes 91% of stroke risk in West Africa to high blood pressure, which is why the discharging doctor's list usually starts with a daily blood-pressure medicine. Amlodipine 5mg, 28 tablets, was N1,700 at a Lagos pharmacy in May 2026. Blood-pressure drug prices rose 73% in the year to December 2024, so a fixed monthly transfer for medicines drifts out of date fast.
• Whatever else the doctor prescribes for prevention (a statin such as atorvastatin was about N3,500 a pack in December 2024) belongs on a written list with doses. Ask for that list at discharge and photograph it.
• Home blood-pressure readings, written down or sent to the family, give the doctor something to act on at the follow-up appointment.

What UK stroke guidance says a family can do

• The NHS describes home recovery as physiotherapy and exercises for movement, speech and swallowing exercises, bladder and bowel support, and help for anxiety, depression and fatigue, with a review of progress at about six months.
• The Stroke Association tells carers to register as a carer, ask for a carer's assessment and join a support group. Its carers' helpline is 0303 3033 100. The advice about carer isolation applies as much to the sibling in Lagos doing the daily work as to anyone in the UK.
• A Kinship Plan fits this stage: a qualified nurse visiting the home in Lagos on a schedule, a written update after each visit, a Kinkeeper reading every one, and health benefits in the member's name for the appointments that follow.

Questions people ask

Related

• Relative admitted to hospital in Nigeria
• Managing blood pressure or diabetes from abroad