The Abuja diabetic foot team, a multidisciplinary group at the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital (UATH) in Nigeria, has cut the amputation rate among patients presenting with diabetic foot problems from 50% to 10%, the lowest recorded at any Nigerian centre, according to an interview published by the charity Diabetes Africa. The Endocrine and Metabolism Society of Nigeria has directed other tertiary hospitals to adopt the UATH model.
The Abuja diabetic foot team behind the result
The work is led by Prof Felicia Anumah, Professor of Medicine and Endocrinology at the University of Abuja and Director of its Centre for Diabetes Studies. She leads the Diabetic Foot Nigeria Initiative, sits on the board of the Pan-African Diabetes Foot Study Group and represents Nigeria on D-Foot International. “Collaboration between endocrinologists and surgeons is what saves limbs,” she told Diabetes Africa.
In April 2026 she co-organised a three-day diabetic foot conference in Abuja with faculty from India, Egypt, South Africa, Tanzania and Rwanda, which drew nearly 100 participants and included a free session for plastic, orthopaedic and vascular surgeons.
Prof Olufemi Fasanmade, Unit Head of Endocrinology at Lagos University Teaching Hospital, credited Prof Anumah with setting the standard for multidisciplinary diabetes care, but noted that other centres had tried to copy the model with less success because it needs institutional capacity, infrastructure and political will.
The scale of the problem
Nigeria has an estimated 11 million people living with diabetes, more than half of them undiagnosed, and more than 55,000 people died from the disease in 2024 on a conservative estimate. Care is largely paid out of pocket, and the article reports that insulin prices have risen by more than 200% since 2023. Patients who cannot pay skip doses and clinic visits and often return only when complications are advanced.
Prof Anumah described a 34-year-old man who had lived with diabetes for 12 years before reaching a tertiary hospital. He had already lost one leg, his other leg could not be saved and he had no money for treatment. He refused amputation and died on the ward. She said his experience is typical where resources are lacking.
Reading the figures
The article does not state the period over which the amputation rate fell, how many patients were included or whether the figures cover major and minor amputations. The 50% starting point reflects how late many patients present. Full published data from the Abuja diabetic foot team would help other hospitals judge what can be replicated.
IMEA POD Perspective
A fall from one in two to one in ten is a remarkable result in a health system where patients pay for their own care and specialist capacity is scarce. It shows that the biggest gains often come from getting the right specialists to work together on the same patient at the right time, not from expensive technology. The Endocrine and Metabolism Society’s decision to push the model nationwide is welcome, but Prof Fasanmade’s warning is the real lesson: a model only travels if hospitals fund the team, the time and the referral pathway behind it. Nigeria still has no podiatry school, and the next step should be to build trained foot care practitioners into every one of these teams, so that prevention and early wound care happen before patients reach the surgeon. Other African and South Asian centres setting up diabetic foot services should study the Abuja diabetic foot team closely.
Sources and further reading
- Diabetes Africa: Is diabetes a ticking time bomb in Nigeria? “The bomb,” says one doctor, “has already exploded.” (8 June 2026, updated 11 June 2026)
- IMEA POD: Nigeria has no podiatry school, warns UK-based podiatrist
- IMEA POD: D-Foot’s Healthy Steps Day brings MENA and Africa foot teams online