The Federal Government has obtained approximately $191 million from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to enhance the health systems in Nigeria.
This announcement was made on Friday in Abuja during the launch of Gavi Health Systems Strengthening Support-3 for Nigeria.
Gavi stated that this health systems strengthening grant of around $191 million, allocated over the next four years, is among the largest grants ever provided by Gavi.
Additionally, Gavi is investing nearly $100 million this year in a vaccination initiative aimed at protecting over 100 million children from Measles and Rubella.
During the launch, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof Muhammad Pate, remarked that Gavi’s investment in Nigeria has saved millions of lives, helped the country’s immunization program recover from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and facilitated the introduction of new vaccines, including those for HPV, malaria, and Mpox.
Pate, represented by the Director of Health Planning, Research, and Statistics at the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Dr Kamil Shoretire, emphasized that Gavi’s mission to save lives and enhance health through equitable and sustainable vaccine use aligns with the national Health Systems Strengthening Board’s vision to save lives, alleviate both physical and financial burdens, and promote health for all Nigerians.
“The government of Nigeria, under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu, is passionate about making quality health services equitably accessible and affordable to all, and rapidly reducing maternal and deaths, and this is the fulcrum of ongoing reforms in the Nigerian health sector.
“Nigeria considers investing in the health sector as a key dividend of democracy and that the provision of quality health services as a fundamental right of every citizen, in line with the President’s Renewed Hope Agenda,” he said.
Over 1 Billion Children Have Been Immunised
The Director of Health Systems and Immunisation Strengthening at Gavi, Alex de Jonquieres, restated Gavi’s mission to ensure every child benefits from lifesaving vaccines.
He said since 2000, 1.1 billion children had been immunised with Gavi support.
“Nigeria is a crucial part of this story: 62 million children vaccinated and two million deaths averted via >$ 2.4bn in support to procure vaccines and strengthen the systems that deliver them. This has enabled the introduction of nine vaccines in Nigeria, including most recently, vaccines against HPV, which has already protected 13.5 million Nigerian girls against cervical cancer, and malaria.
“Recognising Nigeria’s importance, the Gavi Board approved a special 10-year strategy for Nigeria in 2018. This strategy helps provide Nigeria with the vaccines it needs, with $1.1bn worth of vaccines procured since 2018 – one-third by the Government of Nigeria and two-thirds by Gavi. It also provides $260m to strengthen Nigeria’s health system to deliver these vaccines as well as additional support to implement vaccination campaigns,” he emphasised.
He explained that the two-pronged strategy has successfully extended immunisation to over 1.7 million zero-dose children, reached more than 91 million under-five children through campaigns, and installed 11,405 cold chain equipment units.
He added that the strategy directly supported eight states by recruiting 3,683 health workers who also helped over 572,000 mothers give birth, renovating 493 primary health centres, and providing transportation and equipment, including motorcycles, buses, boats, and a refrigerated van, to support vaccine distribution and immunisation services.
“While these results are impressive, we still have a long way to go. Nigeria is home to the largest number of zero-dose children, those who have not received a single dose of routine vaccines, in the world. Low immunisation coverage results in repeated outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases and deaths.
“To address this, we are today launching Gavi’s next health systems strengthening grant with another ~$191m of funding over the next four years. This grant is one of the largest ever made by Gavi and is intended to help extend the reach of the health system to reach 1.8 million zero-dose children and increase immunisation coverage to 84 per cent by 2028.
“The Government of Nigeria designed this grant through an inclusive planning process across the Federal Ministry of Health, National Primary Health Care Development Agency, and other agencies at the federal and state levels and with support from the World Health Organization, UNICEF, many other partners and civil society and private sector organisations. It received strong endorsement from our technical review panel for its strategic vision, digital innovation, and focus on sustainability,” he noted.
He stated that barely 80 per cent of it is supporting work at the sub-national level and more than 10 per cent of that will flow to civil society organizations working at the community levels to ensure the funding is available and the National Traditional Leaders’ Committee will be a key partner in helping to amplify these efforts at the sub-national level.
“In addition, we are also investing close to $100m this year in a vaccination campaign to protect over 100 million children against Measles and Rubella, our largest ever such campaign.
“This support is designed to fully align with the pioneering Sector Wide Approach and health sector reform programme being led by the Coordinating Minister. At the same time, Gavi’s investment is intended to be catalytic and complementary to investments by the Government of Nigeria.
“We therefore look to the government to continue to increase domestic investment in the health sector and in immunisation specifically. We also look forward to robust accountability from both the Government and implementing partners to ensure that every Naira invested results in systemic improvements in the performance of the health system and ultimately leads to more Nigerian children’s lives being saved.
“I believe Nigeria is on the cusp of transforming its immunisation programme and massively accelerating progress to protect every child with immunisation,” he added.
The Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr. Muyi Aina, recognised that the collaboration with Gavi (HSS-2) has enabled the nation to enhance access to essential vaccines.
He emphasised that the advancements in immunisation and Primary Health Care result from Gavi’s support and contributions from other partners, further bolstered by substantial reforms and increased domestic funding for the health sector initiated by President Tinubu.
“As we commence the implementation of the HSS-3 with today’s launch, Nigerians will begin to see more positive and citizen-focused improvements in immunisation and other PHC services across the country,” he said.