How Nigeria’s ‘algorithmic apothecary’ fuels a surge in risky herbal cures

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Abuja, Nigeria – Oke Bola thought a fertility supplement she found online might help her conceive. Instead, within days of taking it, she struggled to breathe. Her experience reflects a growing online trade in unverified herbal remedies promoted across social media.

Bola (not her real name), who is in her early 40s and has never had children, said she bought the supplement earlier this year and increased the recommended dosage, hoping for quicker results after hearing about it from friends and family.

“I recognised the symptoms of asthma; the wheezing sound at night was familiar,” she told Al Jazeera. “When I checked online, I realised it could be from the herbal medication.”

Bola said her symptoms eased after she stopped taking the product. Without consulting a doctor, she assumed the reaction was linked to incorrect dosage and resumed use as instructed.

The product, Jinja Herbal Mixture, is marketed for its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties.

A 2025 Nigeria-based study, titled The Toxicological Evaluation of Jinja: A Local Herbal Mixture (LHM), found it appeared safe for short-term use within tested dosage ranges, offering some support for its traditional use. But researchers also recorded biochemical changes at higher doses, including altered creatinine and sodium levels in test subjects, signs of possible kidney and liver stress.

The study called for further research into long-term effects and interactions with conventional medicines.

Another user, 47-year-old Temi Ahondiwura, a master’s graduate from the University of Ibadan, said a herbal eye treatment bought through Facebook worsened her vision problems. It was her first time trying such a remedy.

Marketed by social media influencers, the product claimed to treat multiple eye conditions.

“At first, I felt itching, but I thought that was part of the process,” she told Al Jazeera. “When it continued, I stopped and went back to my prescribed optical lenses.”

Stories like these are becoming increasingly common, according to pharmacist Akinade Akinlolu and Dr Egemba Chinonso Fidelis.

On a smartphone screen, relief is just a click away: fertility tonics, eye drops promising restored vision, syrups claiming to “flush out” disease. The advertisements are polished, persuasive and constant, woven into TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and X feeds.

Across Nigeria, doctors and pharmacists say a surge in social media-driven self-medication, particularly involving unverified herbal products, is worsening health outcomes, delaying treatment and adding pressure to an already strained system. High costs of care, shortages of medical equipment and the migration of health workers abroad have further weakened a system serving about 230 million people.

Nigeria’s young, hyperconnected population increasingly uses digital platforms for health information and advice. But that access has also created what Dr Isaac Kolawole and Dr Fidelis describe as an “algorithmic apothecary”, an unregulated online marketplace where influencers and anonymous sellers promote remedies directly to consumers with little or no scientific backing.

Online market risks

A report by Surjen Healthcare, a health-tech platform providing home-based care services, links rising self-medication in Nigeria to easy access to health information online. Many people, driven by high costs and mistrust in formal healthcare, now turn to social media for advice, sometimes with harmful consequences.

The report associates this trend with rising drug resistance, late hospital admissions and increased exposure to unsafe or counterfeit products. At the same time, Nigeria’s herbal medicine market continues to grow, but weak enforcement online has allowed unverified products to spread widely.

A 2025 study shows many Nigerians are open to traditional medicine delivered through digital platforms, often shaped by influencer content. It found that 68 percent of patients surveyed were willing to consult traditional practitioners online, while 42 percent of practitioners were aware of such platforms, but only 19 percent were using them. About 60 percent said they were open to adopting them.

“The platforms themselves amplify this effect,” said Fidelis. “Their algorithms reward engaging content and push it to wider audiences,” he told Al Jazeera.

Even users who try to avoid such content often encounter it repeatedly, shaped by emotional storytelling, music and urgency-driven messaging.

Health consequences

Within this ecosystem, herbal remedies, long part of Nigeria’s medical and cultural landscape, are increasingly repackaged as miracle cures, sometimes with dangerous consequences.

Doctors say more patients are arriving at hospitals only when their conditions have significantly worsened, often after prolonged use of unverified treatments.

A consultant nephrologist at the University College Hospital in Ibadan, Dr Yemi Raji, said herbal medicine continues to play a role in kidney disease cases in Nigeria.

While some plant-based treatments may have benefits, he said, many contain compounds that can become harmful in high doses or with prolonged use.

“When you take herbal medication, you are taking both the good and the bad,” he said, noting that 5-7 percent of his patients fall into this category. “Patients often arrive late, when treatment is more difficult and expensive,” he told Al Jazeera.

Dialysis alone, he said, can cost between 50,000 and 100,000 naira ($36-72) per session, several times a week.

“I advise staying away from medications that have not been verified by NAFDAC,” he said. “If you are ill, go to the hospital.”

Raji and Fidelis, the doctors, said herbal medicine remains widely used because it is affordable and culturally familiar, especially in areas with limited access to formal healthcare. But they stressed that the combination of weak regulation and online amplification is driving new risks.

Akinlolu, a pharmacist in Ibadan, a major city in southwestern Nigeria, said many online sellers rely on aggressive marketing to gain trust. He noted that while conditions like diabetes and hypertension can be managed, online claims often suggest cures.

Economic pressure, he added, is also pushing people towards cheaper or “miracle” alternatives.

Fidelis, a public health advocate known online as Aproko Doctor, said the herbal cure trend reflects “confident health lies” presented with certainty but lacking evidence.

“Real medicine does not promise to cure everything, and it does not rely on countdowns,” he said. “Scammers do.”

“These problems are not new,” he added. “What is new is the marketing channel.”

He pointed to studies linking herbal use to kidney and liver disease cases across Africa, including findings that about 46 percent of liver disease admissions in one Nigerian hospital involved herbs or roots.

A 2022 study found that 76.65 percent of participants had used herbal medicine. Most said they used it because they believed it was effective. More than a third combined herbal and conventional treatments, while 82.44 percent did not inform their doctors.

Fidelis said the problem has grown more visible online, noting that scammers have even used AI-generated versions of his image to promote fake products.

“If there are no consequences for lying about healthcare online, people will keep doing it,” he said.

Regulators struggle to keep up

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) says it is working to track unregistered manufacturers, but enforcement remains difficult, especially online.

The southwest zonal director of NAFDAC, Isaac Kolawole, said many sellers use fake or incomplete addresses, making them difficult to trace.

“With the sheer volume of products online, enforcement has limited reach,” he told Al Jazeera.

NAFDAC requires strict registration, testing and approval before herbal products can be sold or advertised, but says regulation has not kept pace with online commerce.

Kolawole said the agency has taken enforcement action against noncompliant manufacturers, including fines, but insisted its goal is regulation, not suppression.

“They are our partners in progress,” he said.

Fidelis argued that stronger regulation alone is not enough. He said access to affordable healthcare must improve, public trust must be rebuilt, and digital platforms must take responsibility for the health content they amplify.

As Nigeria’s digital economy expands, he warned, the intersection of technology and healthcare will only grow more complex.

“Without stronger safeguards,” he said, “the algorithmic apothecary will continue to grow and put more people at risk.”

This article is published in collaboration with Egab.