Nigeria News

Abuja, 20 November 2019 - Nigeria has marked its third National Noma Day with a strong commitment   to eliminate the debilitating disease by 2030. 

The theme for this year’s event, marked on 18 November, was: “Timely recognition averts deformity – raise awareness to prevent noma” and the Nigerian government indicated commitment towards raising awareness on the disease and fully eliminating it from the country. 

Children in 19 Northern states to be vaccinated in largescale campaign implemented by the Government of Nigeria and WHO with Gavi support

Abuja, 16 November 2019 - In efforts to continue boosting the immunity of children against measles and meningitis, Government, through the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) and the World Health Organization (WHO), with support from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, today kicks off a campaign to reach more than 28 million children with lifesaving vaccines. 

Abuja, 13 November 2019 - Nigeria has flagged off series of activities, including engagement with journalists, to advocate for clean toilets for all, to commemorate 2019 World Toilet Day. The theme for this year is, “leaving no one behind”, in line with current global efforts towards achieving universal access to sanitation whereby, no one left is behind.

Maiduguri, 12 November, 2019 - In north-eastern Nigeria, the World Health Organization (WHO) is working with Government to expand and improve services offered to survivors of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV).

Abuja, 8 November, 2019 - In the short time it has existed, Nigeria’s public health institute, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), has reported, averted and controlled a myriad of disease outbreaks. A key factor in preventing either the occurrence or the spread of these outbreaks has been their early detection.

Abuja, 7 November, 2019 - Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) are stepping up efforts to improve the quality of care (QoC) given to new mothers at their facilities. Maternal mortality is an issue of concern in Nigeria. Every year, at least 58,000 Nigerian women die while giving birth, and at least 800 women die in every 100,000 live births. (WHO/UNICEF/UNFPA ).

Yenagoa, 7 November, 2019-  In renewed efforts, not to leave any child needlessly exposed to vaccine-preventable diseases, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the authorities in Bayelsa are seeing a marked improvement in immunization coverage in the State. This follows the adoption of innovative approaches to reach all children – even those living along its hazardous creeks and remote jungles. 

Maiduguri, 1 November, 2019 - Not so long ago, collecting and evaluating large amounts of data in the field on disease trends and patterns – an activity known as surveillance – was a cumbersome process. Surveillance officers noted information by hand on paper and sent hard copies of weekly reports to the local government area (LGA) secretariat via disease surveillance and notification officers (DSNOs). 

“This made emergency response a bit slow,” says Mr Abubakar Wuyo, a surveillance officer at State Specialist Hospital Maiduguri in Borno State.    

Abuja, 29 October, 2019 - Five-year-old Hadiza Malami* and her siblings were born with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Hadiza’s parents, who are both HIV positive, only started receiving antiretroviral (ARV) treatment a year after Hadiza’s birth when an HIV testing and treatment centre opened in their neighbourhood. 

Zamfara, 22 October, 2019 - In an effort to reach and vaccinate every eligible child in Nigeria, the World Health Organization (WHO) is supporting the Government to vaccinate as many Almajiri children in the country as possible.

As part of the demand creation strategies, Almajiri vaccination is the deliberate targeting of eligible children in Almajiri schools with vaccines.