(DDM) – A new national health report has revealed a deepening medical workforce crisis in northern Nigeria, where severe shortages of doctors are forcing many health facilities to depend heavily on community health workers to deliver basic medical services.
The findings come from the 2025 State of Health of the Nation Report released by the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare.
The report paints a stark picture of regional inequality in Nigeria’s healthcare workforce distribution.
In many northern states, community health practitioners have effectively become the backbone of primary healthcare delivery.
These practitioners, often working in rural clinics and primary health centres, now handle much of the frontline healthcare services normally delivered by doctors.
According to the report, Nigeria currently has 223,802 registered community health practitioners nationwide.
Unlike doctors and pharmacists, the employment rate among these practitioners stands at 100 percent.
This means every licensed community health practitioner is currently working within the health system.
By contrast, only 51 percent of licensed doctors and 62 percent of pharmacists are actively employed.
The heavy reliance on community health workers is especially visible across northern states.
Data from the report shows that Kaduna State has the highest number of community health practitioners in the country.
Kaduna hosts 11,973 practitioners within its healthcare system.
It is followed closely by Benue State with 11,552 practitioners and Kano State with 11,382.
While these numbers appear large, experts warn they also highlight a troubling shortage of trained doctors and specialists in many northern states.
A heat map included in the report illustrates the sharp disparity in doctor availability across Nigeria.
The highest concentrations of doctors are found in urbanized southern areas and the federal capital.
For example, Lagos State, the Federal Capital Territory, Edo State, and Enugu State each record five or more doctors per 10,000 residents.
Other states such as Ogun State, Kwara State, Plateau State, Anambra State, Rivers State, and Bayelsa State fall into a moderate category with around three doctors per 10,000 people.
However, the situation in many northern states is dramatically different.
States such as Kebbi State, Sokoto State, Zamfara State, Niger State, Yobe State, Borno State, and Adamawa State record one doctor or fewer per 10,000 residents.
Some states show even more alarming figures.
The report identifies Jigawa State, Kebbi, Zamfara and Yobe as having the lowest doctor density in the country.
These states have just 0.5 doctors per 10,000 people.
This means a single doctor may be responsible for the healthcare needs of approximately 20,000 individuals.
Other states including Adamawa, Bauchi State, Taraba State, and Katsina State report only 0.7 doctors per 10,000 residents.
Experts say the shortage is driven by several overlapping factors.
Insecurity in many northern communities has discouraged health professionals from accepting postings in those regions.
Poor medical infrastructure and limited professional opportunities also contribute to the uneven distribution of healthcare workers.
Another major factor is the ongoing migration of Nigerian medical professionals abroad.
According to the report, external migration accounts for 7,487 nurses and 3,919 doctors leaving the country.
This trend, widely referred to as “medical brain drain,” has intensified over the past decade.
Nigeria currently has 95,456 registered doctors nationwide.
However, only about 60,551 of them are actively licensed to practice.
Among states, Lagos leads with 8,741 doctors.
The Federal Capital Territory follows with 5,505 doctors, while Rivers State has 3,001.
At the other end of the spectrum, Taraba records only 256 doctors.
Zamfara and Kebbi have 298 and 312 doctors respectively.
The disparities extend beyond doctors.
Lagos also has the largest number of nurses and midwives with 13,071 professionals.
Meanwhile, Yobe has just 522 nurses and midwives, the lowest number nationwide.
Specialized healthcare professionals are also unevenly distributed.
For instance, Lagos has 4,448 pharmacists, nearly double the number in Abuja.
In contrast, Zamfara has only 41 pharmacists.
Dental healthcare presents an even more dramatic gap.
Lagos hosts 896 dental professionals, while Taraba has only eight.
Health policy experts warn that these imbalances create serious barriers to healthcare access for millions of Nigerians living in rural and northern communities.
In response, the government has launched several initiatives aimed at strengthening the health workforce.
Nursing school enrolment increased from 37,470 students in 2023 to 44,451 in 2025.
The government also recruited 1,155 skilled birth attendants across five states.
Additionally, more than 13,000 community-based health workers were deployed across 11 states.
Authorities also distributed workwear and protective equipment to about 60,000 midwives.
Despite these interventions, the report concludes that Nigeria’s health workforce remains severely unevenly distributed.
Unless deeper structural issues are addressed, experts warn that large parts of the country, especially the North, will continue to struggle with inadequate access to doctors and specialized medical care.
