Friday, October 3, 2025 - The Federal Government will officially flag off a nationwide integrated campaign to scale up protection against certain diseases.
The campaign targets more awareness on Measles, Rubella,
Human Papilloma Virus, HPV, and polio, while strengthening routine immunization
and tackling Neglected Tropical Diseases, NTDs.
Dr Muyi Aina, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer
of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), disclosed this
in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria(NAN), on Thursday in Abuja.
Aina said the event, which would be hosted by the
Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, is
being organized by the Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH) through the NPHCDA.
He said that Sen. Oluremi Tinubu (CON), First Lady of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria, would serve as the Special Guest of Honour at the
ceremony.
Aina said the campaign is expected to reach millions of
children and adolescents across the country with life-saving vaccines.
He said the campaign is also aimed at expanding access to
interventions for NTDs such as river blindness, lymphatic filariasis,
schistosomiasis, and soil-transmitted helminths.
He said integrating these interventions would reduce
duplication of efforts, optimise resources, and increase coverage, particularly
in underserved rural and hard-to-reach communities.
He said the integrated approach reflected government’s
commitment to achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and reducing
preventable illnesses that continued to place a heavy burden on Nigerian
families and the health system.
He explained that introducing the HPV
vaccine on a national scale is a major milestone in safeguarding adolescent
girls against cervical cancer, one of the leading causes of cancer-related
deaths among Nigerian women.
“The campaign will also strengthen
Nigeria’s efforts to keep polio at bay after being certified wild polio-free in
2020, as well as boost measles and rubella elimination goals,” he said.
He emphasised that all vaccines being
administered are safe, effective and free, urging parents and caregivers to
ensure their children are immunised at designated centres across the country.
“The exercise will also serve as a reminder
of the importance of routine immunisation, which remains one of the most
cost-effective public health interventions worldwide,” he said.
NAN reports that Nigeria continues to face
challenges such as low immunisation uptake in some regions, vaccine
misinformation, and barriers to access.
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