The National Primary Health Care Development Agency has outlined key reforms to strengthen Nigeria’s primary healthcare system, expand immunisation coverage, and reach zero-dose children nationwide.
Muyi Aina, executive director and CEO of the NPHCDA, announced the reforms on Tuesday during the agency’s quarterly media briefing in Abuja.
Mr Aina highlighted ongoing efforts to reduce preventable maternal and newborn deaths, improve PHC functionality, and expand digital health systems.
He said the goal was to ensure at least 17,600 fully functional primary health centres (PHCs) out of more than 30,000 across the country.
“These centres must be equipped, staffed, and capable of delivering essential services, especially for women and children,” he said.
To reduce operational bottlenecks, he noted that the federal government had expanded the Basic Health Care Provision Fund, allowing PHCs to receive quarterly funding directly.
“Low-volume facilities now receive N600,000 per quarter, while high-volume centres receive N800,000. A full list of beneficiary PHCs will be published by Jan. 2026 to promote transparency,” he said.
Mr Aina said Nigeria had an estimated 2.1 million zero-dose children, those who had not received any vaccine by their first birthday. To address this, the agency introduced the Identify, Enumerate, Vaccinate strategy.
He said between July 2024 and October 2025, more than 500,000 zero-dose children were reached through house-to-house mobilisation and targeted campaigns. He added that integrated campaigns now deliver multiple interventions, including polio, measles, HPV, and malaria prevention, to improve efficiency and reduce costs.
“The agency is also rolling out digital health records, real-time PHC dashboards, and multilingual e-learning platforms in English, Pidgin, Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba.
“An electronic financial management system is being deployed to strengthen accountability. So far, more than 70,000 frontline health workers have been trained, and 27,000 community-based workers recruited, with states signing MOUs to absorb them permanently,” he said.
During the briefing, Mr Aina addressed issues related to maternal mortality, immunisation gaps, diphtheria outbreaks, hard-to-reach populations, financial transparency, and HPV vaccination.
Responding to claims of 20,000 maternal and newborn deaths in 2025, he said he was unsure of the data source but acknowledged the scale of preventable deaths.
“What I can agree with is that we’ve had too many unjustified deaths. That is why the president prioritised reducing maternal and newborn mortality under the Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative,” he said.
He explained that direct PHC funding, community health worker recruitment, home visits, and the MAMI intervention all targeted the main drivers of maternal and child deaths, including vaccine-preventable diseases.
According to him, PHC services are also being expanded to cover mental health and non-communicable diseases.
Addressing Nigeria’s ongoing diphtheria outbreaks, which have resulted in 8,000 cases and 800 deaths, Mr Aina cited the 2023 NDHS survey showing Penta-3 coverage at 53 per cent.
“If 53 per cent received the vaccine, 47 per cent did not. They are susceptible, which explains ongoing outbreaks,” he said.
(NAN)