The Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has called for stronger youth involvement and the use of local languages in public health messaging to tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR), one of Nigeria’s most serious health threats.
Speaking at the launch of the SayAMR Language Hackathon in Abuja on Friday, he said effective communication is vital in public health, especially as Nigeria enters the Lassa fever season.
He emphasised the need for timely and culturally relevant communication to protect communities.
The SayAMR Language Hackathon, organised by NCDC in collaboration with DRASA Health Trust, the Centre for Infection Control and Patient Safety, the University of Lagos, and the Committee of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities, seeks to develop local AMR terms in Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, and Pidgin English to enhance grassroots understanding.
He said youth must be central to Nigeria’s health response, describing AMR as a complex but silent killer that threatens health security, food safety, and the economy.
The government, he explained, is implementing the National Action Plan on AMR (2024–2028) anchored on prevention, stewardship, and communication under the One Health approach linking human, animal, and environmental health.
“This hackathon highlights the power of language in public health, because what we cannot say, we cannot fight,” he said, adding that Nigeria’s 500-plus languages are assets for reaching communities.
Drawing from past HIV/AIDS campaigns, he said, when people could describe diseases in familiar words, stigma was reduced and action followed.
Through the SayAMR initiative, he urged young linguists, artists, and health professionals to create relatable AMR expressions that inspire action.
“When a market woman in Aba or a daughter in Katsina can describe AMR in her language, we will begin to win the fight,” he said.
Professor Haruna Andrew, Secretary-General of the Committee of Vice-Chancellors, described language as a bridge between culture and education, saying the programme models collaboration between academia and public health.
Dr. Tochi Okwor, Head of Disease Prevention at NCDC and Chair of Nigeria’s AMR Coordinating Committee, said the initiative reinforces the need to communicate AMR in indigenous languages to strengthen public understanding.
She explained that many Nigerians struggle to grasp AMR because there are no local words for it, making translation essential for effective engagement.
“By translating AMR concepts into major Nigerian languages, we can empower farmers, traders, and communities to understand how resistance spreads and why rational antibiotic use matters,” she said.
World Health Organization Technical Officer for AMR and One Health, Dr. Chavan Laxmikant, commended the initiative as innovative and timely.
Comparing India and Nigeria, he said multilingual contexts make English-only campaigns ineffective.
“Misuse of antibiotics begins in communities where people demand them unnecessarily. This hackathon will help communities understand what AMR is and their role in stopping it,” he said, noting that more than 60,000 Nigerians die annually from AMR.
Dr. Ayodele Majekodunmi, Project Lead for the World Bank-funded Health Security Programme for West and Central Africa under WOAH, said AMR is a cross-border challenge requiring regional collaboration.
He praised the hackathon for engaging youth and empowering communities with accurate and culturally relevant knowledge.
Chidinma Ibe, Head of the Infection Prevention and Control Programme at the Institute of Human Virology Nigeria (IHVN), said community engagement and culturally tailored messaging are vital to containing AMR.
Translating scientific information into local languages, she said, improves understanding and encourages infection prevention practices at the grassroots.
Niniola Williams, Managing Director of DRASA Health Trust, said the hackathon merges science, creativity, and community to address one of Nigeria’s most urgent health challenges.
She noted that infections continue to disrupt lives and weaken the health system, emphasizing that most are preventable.
She said DRASA, founded in memory of Dr. Ameyo Stella Adadevoh, continues her legacy of courage and prevention, “The SayAMR Hackathon expands that vision by showing that prevention is not just about medicine or policy but also about how we communicate.
“How we speak about AMR determines how people understand and act on it,” she said.
Williams commended NCDC, the Committee of Vice-Chancellors, and other partners for supporting efforts to make AMR prevention a national movement that reaches every home, market, and classroom.
