Plate Nº 86 · recorded October 10, 2026
Health & Medicine ResearchReported finding
Faith Leaders Could Be Key Partners in Nigeria's Hypertension Fight
A first-of-its-kind Lagos study finds religious leaders willing to host blood pressure screenings and health education — if health partnerships stop being extractive.
By Elena Vasquez3 min read686 words
In brief
- About one in three adults in Nigeria has hypertension.
- Researchers interviewed eight faith leaders across six religious traditions in Lagos.
- The study, led by Dr. Abayomi Sanusi, was published in Frontiers in Public Health in 2026.
- Faith leaders reported past public health collaborations were often extractive and one-sided.
- The study urges embedding faith institutions in long-term national hypertension strategies.
One in three adults in Nigeria lives with hypertension, and a new study from the University of York suggests an overlooked group could help turn that number around: faith leaders.
The research, published in Frontiers in Public Health in 2026, found that religious leaders in Lagos would welcome routine blood pressure screening, health education and medical referral programs inside their places of worship — but only if past patterns of one-sided collaboration change.
It is the first qualitative study of its kind in Lagos. Researchers interviewed eight faith leaders across six religious traditions to understand how they view hypertension and what role worship networks could play in addressing it.
Why hypertension matters so much in Nigeria
Hypertension, or persistently high blood pressure, is a disorder of the heart and blood vessels. It is a major driver of cardiovascular disease and premature death worldwide. While it affects adults across the globe, Nigeria considers it a growing health challenge, with roughly a third of the adult population affected.
What did the faith leaders say?
The interviews revealed something the researchers did not fully expect: a sophisticated grasp of the social roots of high blood pressure. The leaders pointed directly to poverty, chronic stress, inadequate public infrastructure and systemic governance failures as the forces driving the condition in their communities.
Dr. Abayomi Sanusi, the study's lead author from the University of York's Department of Health Sciences, said: "Our previous work has shown that promoting health through faith institutions holds unrealized potential to support and supplement health care systems. This latest study shows that rather than viewing cardiovascular issues purely through a spiritual lens, faith leaders offer a sharp critique of current health system deficiencies."
He added: "In our interviews, they also expressed a strong willingness to open their doors to routine screening, health education and medical referral programs."
What went wrong with earlier collaborations?
The leaders drew a clear line between what they want and what they have experienced. Previous public health partnerships with researchers, government bodies and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), they reported, have frequently been one-sided.
The study describes these past initiatives as acting in an "extractive" manner: outside partners took access, trust and resources from local congregations but left behind no sustainable health infrastructure and gave little back to the communities they served.
Su Golder, a professor in the same department at York, said: "It is evident that faith leaders are already acting as sophisticated diagnosticians of health system failure, yet they remain structurally excluded from official state and national hypertension strategies."
She attributed this exclusion to "a failure to recognize religious authority as a legitimate public health asset."
What would genuine partnership look like?
The study concludes that health authorities must stop treating faith institutions as convenient "access points" to the community. Policymakers should instead build reciprocal partnerships that treat religious figures as equal stakeholders.
The authors set out recommendations for researchers, practitioners, funders and government officials:
- Co-design health interventions with faith networks rather than imposing them from outside.
- Test models of care so that key health resources are drawn from, and remain within, the community.
- Embed faith institutions in long-term national health policies, not one-off projects.
The researchers stress that this final step demands commitment from all partners from the outset, along with a genuine understanding of how effective faith leaders can be in supporting healthy lives.
How firm are the findings?
Some caution is warranted. The study is qualitative, based on interviews with eight leaders in a single city, so its findings describe perspectives in Lagos rather than measurable health outcomes across Nigeria. It does not test whether faith-based interventions actually lower blood pressure. What it does establish, through direct testimony, is that a willing and analytically sharp partner network exists — and that the main barrier to using it may be how public health institutions behave, not how faith leaders think.
Publication details: Abayomi Sanusi et al., "The perspectives of Lagos faith-institution leaders on health, hypertension, and faith-based hypertension interventions: a qualitative interview study," Frontiers in Public Health (2026). DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2026.1925205
via Medical Xpress (Source)
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