By Sanni Abdullahi
ABUJA — Nigeria has secured about $500 million in new support from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to accelerate routine immunisation, strengthen primary health care, and expand vaccine coverage for children and vulnerable communities across the country.
The funding commitment was announced in Abuja following high-level discussions between the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Muhammad Ali Pate, and Gavi Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Sania Nishtar.
Approved under the Gavi 6.0 programme, the allocation will be delivered through a new five-year funding envelope designed to give countries more predictability in planning. For Nigeria, the funding will be directed toward five priority areas: accelerating routine immunisation, sustaining polio eradication efforts, expanding Human Papillomavirus, HPV, vaccination, strengthening primary healthcare services, and improving long-term vaccine financing.
Professor Pate welcomed the reforms, saying the shift to a multi-year funding model will allow Nigeria to move away from short-term planning cycles.
“The about five hundred million dollars allocation will enable Nigeria to plan more effectively and deliver life-saving vaccines to more children and vulnerable populations,” Pate said.
“This is aligned with President Bola Tinubu’s agenda to improve health outcomes and ensure that no child is left behind because of where they live or their family’s income.”
Dr. Nishtar said the discussions in Abuja focused on how Gavi can better support large countries with significant immunisation gaps. She noted that Nigeria remains central to global efforts to end vaccine-preventable diseases in Africa.
Under Gavi 6.0, the Alliance is introducing country-focused reforms that give governments more flexibility to integrate vaccine programmes with broader primary health care delivery.
From the intervention, Nigeria will be linking immunisation campaigns to services at primary health care centres, improving cold chain and logistics, and building domestic capacity towards financing vaccines in the long term.
Health officials who spoke to our correspondent said the funding comes at a critical time.
Records show that Nigeria accounts for a large share of unimmunized children globally, and routine immunisation rates have been affected by insecurity, misinformation, and gaps in health infrastructure.
The new support is expected to help close those gaps by increasing the number of children reached with vaccines for measles, pneumonia, rotavirus, polio, and now HPV.
The HPV expansion is particularly significant. Cervical cancer remains one of the leading causes of cancer deaths among Nigerian women, and wider HPV vaccination for girls is seen as a key preventive step.
With the five-year envelope, the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare says it will work with state governments, development partners, and community leaders to ensure the funds translate into vaccines in clinics, not just commitments on paper.
The Gavi board approved the Nigeria allocation earlier this year as part of its strategy to reach 500 million more children with vaccines between 2026 and 2030.
