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  • ‘Gates Foundation spent $1b in Nigeria’

    ‘Gates Foundation spent $1b in Nigeria’

    The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has spent close to $1 billion in Nigeria, with the majority of its funding dedicated to health initiatives.

    This disclosure was was made by Ekenem Isichei, Deputy Director of Policy, Advocacy and Communications for the Foundation in Nigeria in an exclusive interview with The Nation at the just-concluded 31st Nigerian Economic Summit (NES 31) in Abuja.

    Isichei said the Gates Foundation’s investments are driven by three major aspirations: ensuring that no mother or child dies from preventable causes, eradicating deadly infectious diseases, and lifting millions of people out of poverty onto a path of prosperity.

     “In Nigeria, we have spent a good amount of money. I don’t know the exact figures, but it is going to be at least close to a billion dollars spent in Nigeria,” he stated.

    “We have a strong focus on health.”

    He explained that the Foundation’s largest funding commitment in Nigeria is directed towards polio eradication, immunization programmes, and strengthening the healthcare system. According to him, these interventions are aimed at improving the country’s human capital base and creating a healthier, more productive population.

    Read Also: Tax reform: Rewriting Nigeria’s fiscal story

    Isichei noted that the Gates Foundation is not a government body but works in partnership with governments and development actors to strengthen existing frameworks. “We are a trusted partner in the process. We are not government. All we can do is support systems, support the government’s framework, and bring shared lessons from different places,” he said.

    Reflecting on the summit’s theme, he observed that the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) was examining national reforms at a crucial inflection point. “The NESG is looking at things from an inflection point — looking at the current reforms, asking: are they working or not? How do we really catalyze growth so we can reach or aspire to be a trillion-dollar economy by 2030?” he said.

    He stressed that achieving such economic growth would require significant investment in people and in human capital development. “It should be a top priority. You must grow at least double digits of what you’re currently growing at the moment. You must invest in people, you must invest in healthcare, you must invest in education, and create systems that will support that growth,” he added.

    On the lessons drawn from the summit, Isichei described the NES 31 as an opportunity for national reflection and alignment among stakeholders. “The NESG Summit presents an opportunity for us to really think about what success should look like moving forward. How do we begin to all align our efforts in the work we are doing? How do we make sure that no man, woman, young girl or child is left behind?”

    He said the Foundation believes the summit could serve as a catalyst for action as the administration approaches its mid-term period. “This is what you should really be thinking about moving forward,” he said. “Because you can’t imagine the breadth of partners coming together — people coming together all in a bid to say, this is what we need to do and how we need to move forward.”

    Isichei concluded with a vision of the kind of future the Gates Foundation hopes to help Nigeria achieve through sustained collaboration and human development. “When we look back six or ten years from now, we should be able to say things like, ‘Oh, what was malaria?’ To your children, you would say, they never knew anything about malaria. That is the future we want to get to,” he said.

  • Gates Foundation backs $40 HIV prevention jab for poorer countries

    Gates Foundation backs $40 HIV prevention jab for poorer countries

    The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has struck a new deal with Indian pharmaceutical company, Hetero Labs, to produce a low-cost generic version of lenacapavir, the world’s first twice-yearly injectable HIV prevention drug. The foundation will provide upfront funding and volume guarantees to Hetero, enabling the drug to be sold at about $40 per patient per year (after a short oral lead-in).

    This support means Hetero receives money now to set up production, while being assured of future purchase volumes. The combined package lowers manufacturing risk and makes the drug affordable for public health systems in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where the HIV burden remains highest.

    Lenacapavir, approved this year by the World Health Organisation (WHO), U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Commission, is the first long-acting PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) injection that provides six months of HIV protection with a single dose. Unlike daily oral PrEP pills, it offers a discreet option that could help overcome challenges of adherence, stigma, and frequent clinic visits. In addition to the Hetero agreement, Unitaid, the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), and Wits RHI have signed a similar deal with another Indian manufacturer, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, to ensure competition and reliable supply.  Generic versions are expected to be available by 2027, pending regulatory approvals, while initial supplies through the Global Fund, Gilead Sciences, and PEPFAR could reach LMICs as early as late 2025.

    READ ALSO: How CBN rate cut will save Nigeria N1tr, by Rewane

    The Gates Foundation has already committed over $80 million to accelerate the generic production of lenacapavir and strengthen delivery systems. The new deal also covers affordable access to the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), allowing other manufacturers to enter the market quickly.

    Globally, HIV prevention remains a pressing challenge. In 2024 alone, 1.3 million people contracted HIV, yet only 18per cent of those eligible had access to PrEP. Research suggests that reaching even four per cent of people in high-burden countries with lenacapavir could prevent up to 20 per cent of new infections. The announcement also follows Bill Gates’ pledge of $912 million to the Global Fund’s 2026–2028 campaign, aimed at saving 23 million lives from HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis. Experts describe the foundation’s approach as a deliberate attempt to reverse the long history of delayed access to lifesaving innovations in low-income countries. Global health experts have described the generics agreements as a “major step forward” in ending the HIV epidemic by making prevention affordable, scalable, and sustainable across vulnerable regions.

  • Gates Foundation backs $40 HIV prevention jab for poorer countries

    Gates Foundation backs $40 HIV prevention jab for poorer countries

    The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has struck a new deal with Indian pharmaceutical company Hetero Labs to produce a low-cost generic version of lenacapavir, the world’s first twice-yearly injectable HIV prevention drug.

    The foundation will provide upfront funding and volume guarantees to Hetero, enabling the drug to be sold at about $40 per patient per year (after a short oral lead-in).

    This support means Hetero receives money now to set up production, while being assured of future purchase volumes.

    The combined package lowers manufacturing risk and makes the drug affordable for public health systems in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where the HIV burden remains highest.

    Read Also: Gender Inclusion: We must move from rhetoric to delivery, says Gates Foundation

    Lenacapavir, approved this year by the World Health Organization (WHO), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the European Commission, is the first long-acting PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) injection that provides six months of HIV protection with a single dose. Unlike daily oral PrEP pills, it offers a discreet option that could help overcome challenges of adherence, stigma, and frequent clinic visits.

    In addition to the Hetero agreement, Unitaid, the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), and Wits RHI have signed a similar deal with another Indian manufacturer, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, to ensure competition and reliable supply.

    Generic versions are expected to be available by 2027, pending regulatory approvals, while initial supplies through the Global Fund, Gilead Sciences, and PEPFAR could reach LMICs as early as late 2025.

    The Gates Foundation has already committed over $80 million to accelerate the generic production of lenacapavir and strengthen delivery systems.

    The new deal also covers affordable access to the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), allowing other manufacturers to enter the market quickly.

    Globally, HIV prevention remains a pressing challenge. In 2024 alone, 1.3 million people contracted HIV, yet only 18% of those eligible had access to PrEP. Research suggests that reaching even 4% of people in high-burden countries with lenacapavir could prevent up to 20% of new infections.

    The announcement also follows Bill Gates’ pledge of $912 million to the Global Fund’s 2026–2028 campaign, aimed at saving 23 million lives from HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis. Experts describe the foundation’s approach as a deliberate attempt to reverse the long history of delayed access to lifesaving innovations in low-income countries.

    Global health experts have described the generics agreements as a “major step forward” in ending the HIV epidemic by making prevention affordable, scalable, and sustainable across vulnerable regions.

  • Gender Inclusion: We must move from rhetoric to delivery, says Gates Foundation

    Gender Inclusion: We must move from rhetoric to delivery, says Gates Foundation

    The Gates Foundation has urged Nigerian leaders to accelerate action on gender equality goals by moving from policy launches to real delivery for women and girls.

    The foundation explained that the success of Nigeria’s development lies in moving from policy launches to real delivery for women to achieve common goals in women’s health and inclusive economic growth. 

    Deputy Director of Programme Advocacy & Communications (PAC) at the Gates Foundation, Ekenem Isichei, made the call during his keynote address at the 2025 Gender and Inclusion Summit organised by the Policy Innovation Centre (PIC) in Abuja.

    The summit with the theme: “New Voices and New Approaches for Accelerating Inclusive Society” brought together government, private sector, and civil society to discuss gender inclusion and its impact on economic growth and development.

    In his address, Isichei said inclusive growth cannot be achieved unless women are intentionally prioritized in national and state policies, while warning that progress made in women’s health and empowerment could stall without stronger institutional delivery and budgetary commitment.

    He said, “Our goal is to leverage our knowledge and capital to enable the government to best serve its people to execute on budget commitments for key health innovations, to streamline donor delivery coordination mechanisms, to plan and operationalize national development plans on the state level, and much more.”

    Isichei noted that the conversation became important at a time when bilateral aid to Nigeria fell by 40 percent as programs that intentionally support women’s health or empowerment remained targeted, adding that funding for maternal and child health dropped by 67 percent.

    “We gather at a time when resources and momentum towards gender equality goals are waning. Since we gathered last year, bilateral Official Development Assistance, that is, aid from a donor country to Nigeria, has dropped 40%, and programs that intentionally support women’s health or empowerment were especially targeted.

    “Funding towards maternal and child health in Nigeria dropped by 67%. That means that for every three women in your community, two of them will not have access to critical women’s health commodities that they had last year.

    “When 70% of Nigeria’s poorest are women, we cannot ignore the unique experiences of women in climbing out of poverty. At the Foundation, we have seen hard evidence that proves that investing in women’s health and women’s economic empowerment has a lasting impact across generations. It leads to healthier families, stronger economies, and a more just world,” Isichie said.

    Read Also: Zambia VP lauds Sanwo-Olu on human capital development, gender inclusion

    He called on national and subnational governments to invest in skills systems and staying power to implement programmes effectively, and not just to launch.

    “This means institutionalizing gender desks, strengthening planning & budget units, and equipping local PHC managers and Gender Officers with the tools and data to lead with impact.”

    He also called for dedicated public resources for women, saying gender-responsive budgeting “cannot remain an annual budget exercise.”  Calling for clear expenditure targets for women-led MSMEs, which must be protected, disbursed, and monitored.

    The Gates Foundation recently pledged $2.5 billion through 2030 for research and development in women’s health, calling on the government, the private sector, and civil society to co-invest.

    Though civil society groups were praised for pushing inclusion into the national conversations and matching urgency with operational clarity, Isichie urged private sector leaders to see inclusion as smart economics rather than charity.

    Meanwhile, the chairperson of Nigeria Governors’ Spouses’ Forum (NGSF), Professor Olufolake Abdulrazaq, reiterated the Forum’s commitment to advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment, pledging stronger interventions to dismantle systemic barriers.

    Olufolake said that various state-level reforms are already underway, stressing that Kwara State has signed a 35 percent gender inclusion bill into law, while 10 states now grant six months of maternity leave to working mothers.

    Several states, including Imo, Ogun, and Ekiti, have female deputy governors, with Kwara reporting 50 percent female representation in its cabinet. Such measures, she said, signal progress toward reshaping governance and leadership representation in Nigeria.

    In another remark, the 2nd Deputy Governor, Central Bank of Ghana, Matilda Sante-Asiedu, said true progress extends beyond economic growth, as it is rooted in inclusion and representation for all. Gender equity, she said, “is not a moral responsibility but strategic for building societies that are inclusive, resilient, and prosperous. Changing the narrative of inclusion requires transformational thinking and an unconventional approach to doing things.”

    She urged all leaders and policymakers to embrace bold ideas and establish institutions that truly reflect the diversity of the African continent.

    Meanwhile, the Executive Director of the Policy Innovation Centre, Dr. Osasuyi Dirisu, said the summit aims to bring every cluster of discussion on gender under the same platform for inclusive discussion and participation, while noting that the impacts of the summit have grown over the years. She said the centre is poised to further deepen the positive impact of the summit in the next 10 years.

  • Mexico, Gates Foundation push for stronger gender inclusion at Abuja summit

    Mexico, Gates Foundation push for stronger gender inclusion at Abuja summit

    The 2025 Gender Inclusion Summit (GS-25) held in Abuja on Thursday renewed calls for concrete action on women’s empowerment and inclusive development in Nigeria.

    The event, organised by the Policy Innovation Centre, brought together diplomats, government officials, development partners, and civil society leaders who stressed that gender equality is key to peace, stability, and economic growth.

    In his goodwill message, the Mexican Ambassador to Nigeria, Alfredo Miranda, said gender equality should not be viewed as a foreign concept but as a universal aspiration built on dignity and opportunity.

    “It is a true honor to stand before you today — here in a country of immense diversity, extraordinary resilience, and women of remarkable strength and wisdom,” he said. Quoting an African proverb, he added: “If you educate a woman, you educate a nation. In Mexico, we believe that to be profoundly true.”

    The envoy highlighted Mexico’s progress in recent years, including constitutional parity in elected positions, institutionalized gender policies, and, for the first time in its history, the election of a female president. But he admitted these gains came through persistence, legal reforms, political will, and civil society advocacy — not automatically.

    Miranda stressed that inclusion must go beyond gender to embrace youth, indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, and other marginalized groups. He also pointed to the economic benefits, noting that closing gender gaps in labor markets could add trillions of dollars to global GDP.

    “Empowering women and excluded groups is not only a moral imperative — it is a smart economic strategy for growth, innovation, and stability,” he said, adding that Mexico stands ready to collaborate with Nigeria in advancing inclusive policies at home and in global forums such as the UN and G20.

    In his keynote address, Ekenem Isichei, Deputy Director of Programme Advocacy and Communications at the Gates Foundation, painted a mixed picture.

    Read Also: Fed Govt, Bill Gates Foundation sign MoU on health, education, agriculture

    While acknowledging Nigeria’s recent progress on women’s inclusion, he warned of waning international support for gender-focused initiatives.

    According to him, bilateral aid to Nigeria has dropped by 40 percent in the past year, with funding for maternal and child health plummeting by 67 percent. “That means for every three women in your community, two of them will not have access to critical health commodities they had last year,” he cautioned.

    Despite this, Isichei highlighted important milestones, including Nigeria’s leap from 49th to 24th place on the World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Economic Opportunity Index, surpassing the government’s 2028 target three years early. 

    He credited the progress to increased female labor force participation and reforms such as the adoption of the Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) Policy.

    The WEE Policy, developed after an 18-month consultative process, serves as a blueprint for lifting women in key sectors such as agriculture, entrepreneurship, and formal employment. Lagos and Kaduna have already domesticated the policy, while at least 14 other states are in the process of doing so.

    Isichei also cited the relaunch of the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund (BHCPF 2.0) and the Sector-Wide Approach (SWAp) to funding as signs of stronger institutional intent. However, he insisted that policies must translate into delivery.

    “We need more than policies. We need implementation,” he said. “Ministries, departments, and agencies must invest in skills, systems, and staying power to deliver impact — not just to launch programmes.”

    The Gates Foundation official urged governments to dedicate public resources to women, ensure gender-responsive budgeting, and release funds promptly for women-focused programmes. He also called on the private sector to view investment in women not as charity but as good business, citing examples of WEMA Bank and Access Bank, which have introduced progressive maternity leave policies and mentorship schemes for women.

    “Data repeatedly shows that gender-balanced teams and women-led businesses outperform their peers,” he said.

    Turning to civil society, Isichei acknowledged their advocacy as a driving force behind recent gains but urged groups to pair urgency with operational clarity to ensure that progress reaches women in real and measurable ways.

    Looking ahead, he outlined key targets before the next summit in 2026: full domestication and funding of WEE plans across states, nationwide expansion of women-centered health innovations, increased access for women to credit and digital tools, more women in leadership, and robust data systems to track gender outcomes.

    “The test of inclusion is not the summit,” he concluded. “The test is what we change after the applause dies down.”

    For participants, the summit served both as a reflection of progress and a call to action. With global aid for women’s health shrinking and competing national priorities growing, speakers agreed that Nigeria’s development will depend heavily on how it centers women and marginalized groups in policy and practice.

    As Ambassador Miranda summed up: “Gender equality is not a luxury. It is not a distant goal. It is an urgent necessity for peace, stability, and prosperity — for men and women alike.”

  • Gates Foundation canvasses partnerships amid global development challenges

    Gates Foundation canvasses partnerships amid global development challenges

    The Nigeria Country Director of the Bill Gates Foundation, Uche Amaonwu, has highlighted the urgent need for stronger partnerships to sustain development efforts in Nigeria amid global uncertainties.

    Speaking at the Goalkeepers Nigeria event in Abuja yesterday, he emphasised that while the foundation’s funding model provides some resilience, the shifting global landscape cannot be ignored.

    “It’s been a tough year. But here’s the thing about development: we’re always going to face cycles of challenge, and we need to stay focused on our common goal,” Amaonwu said.

    He expressed concerns over the potential loss of the world’s largest development funder, warning that such a shift could put many initiatives at risk and necessitate a reassessment of philanthropic strategies.

    “For example, the foundation invests heavily in innovation. We don’t have unlimited resources, but even with significant funding, it’s clear that we can only impact a small number of countries, not the entire world,” he noted.

    Amaonwu stressed that partnerships with organisations like USAID and government agencies were crucial for implementing change on the ground.

    Read Also: CSO, Afenifere youths fault Sowore’s comments on IGP Egbetokun

    He commended development workers in Nigeria for their dedication, urging them to continue pushing forward despite challenges.

    “At the same time, we must remember that the work on the ground continues regardless of what’s happening elsewhere,” he added.

    “Your work is what truly drives progress, and we appreciate everything you do.”

    Deputy Director of Policy, Advocacy, and Communication (PAC) at the Gates Foundation, Ekenem Isichie, acknowledged the difficulties facing Nigeria, including high inflation and rising mortality rates. However, he encouraged changemakers to remain resilient.

    “We are facing tough times—high inflation, a rising mortality rate, and a growing need for collective action. But the good news is that we’re not alone. We’re all here as changemakers. And together, we can make a difference,” Isichie stated.

  • Gates Foundation recommits to improved maternal health, others

    Gates Foundation recommits to improved maternal health, others

    The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has promised greater commitment to ending maternal mortality, especially from Post Partum Hemorrhage (PPH).

    The co-chair of the foundation, Bill Gates, made the promise while addressing journalists on the sideline of the 2024 Nutri-Vision: Pan African Youth Dialogue on Nutrition in Abuja.

    According to Gates, the foundation’s trial on the $2 anti-bleeding drugs has proven to be very effective and so it encouraged the World Health Organisation (WHO) to change its recommendation.

    He said: “Our most exciting work is in the Mother and Child area. We were trying out the idea of putting a drape under a mother who’s delivering to see how much bleeding is happening. We had two cutoff points in the trial where you could give a woman these very cheap anti-bleeding drugs after 200 millilitres of bleeding. The current WHO standard is that you should treat women if they bled over 500 millilitres, but there are no tools to measure that, so often women who even exceed that level don’t get treatment.

    Read Also; Fuel crisis deepens in Lagos as prices soar, scarcity bites harder

    “But what we showed in the trial was that if you use these anti-bleeding drugs at the current recommended level, you saved a little over 50 percent of lives, but if you did it at the lower level, you actually saved 70 percent. So we got the WHO to change its recommendation. Now we are trying to get it rolled out such that you have this plastic mat that’s very inexpensive to measure the blood loss, and then if needed, the $2 drugs that actually stop the bleeding can be used.

    “That study was supposed to go on for three years but in six months, the effect was so dramatic and we ended the trial early, which almost never happens. If something is so miraculous, it then becomes unethical to continue the trial.

    “We’re trying to do the same thing for other maternal conditions like preeclampsia and gestational diabetes because these issues that drive the level of maternal mortality are unfortunately still fairly high in Nigeria.”

    Gates also hinted at efforts to develop cheap effective vaccines to combat tuberculosis. He lamented that tuberculosis had resumed its number one position as the biggest infectious disease killer of about 1.6 million people every year, and yet it is underfunded.

    He said: “The foundation works on tuberculosis diagnostics because it’s still too hard and expensive to diagnose, and we want to get a $2 test. We don’t have that yet, but we’re pretty optimistic we’ll get it.

    “We’re making great progress on the drugs and bringing new drugs in because patients have to sadly take the current drugs for nine months, even as there are the drug-resistant strains, either single drug resistance or multi-drug resistance.

    “We’re also working on a vaccine, and the trial will take like four years, and we’re hoping it will show like a 70 percent reduction rate. It’s a very expensive trial, going for about $500 million, yet there is the possibility it won’t work. The vaccine is also very risky but we’ve decided to go ahead and fund it because there are no good TB vaccines, and this one, at least at the trial level, looked like it might give us a 70 percent reduction rate.

    “But we are very hopeful, and we’ll try other vaccines as well. The drugs and new diagnostic I guarantee will work.”

  • JUST IN: Melinda Gates to resign from Gates Foundation

    JUST IN: Melinda Gates to resign from Gates Foundation

    Billionaire philanthropist Melinda French Gates has said she will resign as co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

    “This is not a decision I came to lightly,” Ms Gates wrote in a statement posted to X on Monday.

    Her last day of work will be 7 June.

    Ms Gates founded the foundation – the largest private body of its kind – in 2000 with her then-husband Bill Gates, the Microsoft co-founder.

    In 2021, after 27 years of marriage, the pair announced their separation, but pledged to carry on with their joint philanthropic work.

    Read Also: Gates Foundation calls for increased funding from Nigeria’s wealthy

    The Gates Foundation is among the most powerful groups in public health. It spends billions of dollars every year on initiatives aimed at eradicating infectious diseases, reducing poverty and combatting climate change.

    According to the foundation’s website, the couple donated more than $36bn (£28bn) of their own wealth to it from 1994 to 2018.

    “I am immensely proud of the foundation that Bill and I built together,” Ms Gates wrote in her statement adding that under an agreement with Mr Gates, she will now have an additional $12.5bn for her own charitable work on women and families.

    BBC

  • Gates Foundation calls for increased funding from Nigeria’s wealthy

    Gates Foundation calls for increased funding from Nigeria’s wealthy

    • By Seun Akioye

    The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) has urged wealthy Nigerians to commit to giving more of their income to philanthropy especially causes combating poverty, eradicating disease, and fighting inequality in the country and across the globe.

    The Chief Executive Officer of the foundation, Mark Suzman who  made the call in an interview with The Nation said more wealthy Nigerians should emulate the good models of those who are already giving to save millions of lives in the continent.

    Suzman said: “We have a strong and longstanding partnership with Aliko Dangote, who is the wealthiest man in Nigeria and the wealthiest person on the continent of Africa. And that’s been a really good model, and the Dangote Foundation does some excellent work, particularly, we focused on polio and healthcare, especially in the north of Nigeria, where the needs are greatest. “

    In his annual letter also made available to our correspondent, Suzman pointed out that since the COVID-19 pandemic struck, the world has seen a backslide in progress at a time when low-income countries have fewer resources to meet basic human needs. 

    Read Also: Nigeria backs Gates Foundation’s boost of vaccine manufacturing in Africa

    He said however, that  there is a robust pipeline of health innovations and proven solutions that could be scaled up or catalyzed with the advent of additional philanthropic dollars. “Philanthropy can take risks and help fill gaps that would otherwise be overlooked or underfunded. We have the opportunity to realize the full potential of philanthropy at the moment when the world needs it most,” Suzman said.

    The foundation also noted that with just an additional $1billion in giving, philanthropists could fund a set of high-impact, low-cost interventions that could save the lives of two million additional mothers and babies by 2030.

    “With $4 billion, they could help half a billion smallholder farmers become more climate resilient and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture by 1 gigaton a year by 2030. With a little more than $7 billion, they could get vaccines to 300 million people, preventing at least seven million deaths,” Suzman said.

    The foundation also praised Nigerian billionaires but insisted that more could be done to save lives and give everyone a chance to live a healthy, productive life in the country. “I think there’s also been a sort of healthy ecosystem within Nigeria. They’re discussing philanthropy, but I certainly feel there is more opportunity for wealthy Nigerians, given there is a critical mass of significant wealth in that country, to help engage, to engage on local problems and local issues.”

  • Fed Govt, Gates Foundation sign $75m funding pact on immunisation

    The Federal Government and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have announced a new innovative financing agreement.The agreement is aimed at strengthening both routine immunisation (RI) and broader primary healthcare (PHC) services.

    Under the agreement, the Gates Foundation will provide up to $15million per annum for five years to Nigeria for financing PHC. The incentive financing will be directly invested in Nigeria’s Basic Healthcare Provision Fund (BHCPF), strengthening other PHC services for the poorest.

    The BHCPF implementation was formally rolled out on January 8, with critical PHC interventions for children, women and families in rural and underserved areas.

    In April last year, the Federal Government, led by the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, finalised its Nigeria Strategy for Immunisation and PHC System Strengthening, 2018-2028 (NSIPSS). The document outlined plans to spend $1.95 billion on immunisation services over 10years through the national budget and some World Bank loan financing. In June, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, committed to supporting the NSIPSS with extended donor financing as domestic resources scaled up. During this extended transition window, international donors, via Gavi, will provide Nigeria with $1 billion on top of the $1.95bn domestic commitment. Together these funds will cover procurement of vaccines, the lion share of the costs, as well as operational costs for routine and supplementary immunisation activities, and PHC system support.

    In spite of additional Gavi support and loan options, the NSIPSS financing strategy requires significant annual increases in funding for vaccines until the government assumes full responsibility after 2028.

    Speaking on the new agreement, Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, said there is no question that immunisation is an all-around ‘best buy’ for Nigeria, but “we still have limited resources”.

    On his part, Health Minister,  Prof. Isaac Adewole, noted that full implementation of the NSIPSS will reach millions of Nigerian children with vaccines and potentially save millions of lives.

    “With the NSIPSS, Nigerian government is committing to a long-term investment in its people and ensuring that children will have the vaccines they need for the next 10years and beyond,” said Country Director, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Dr. Paulin Basinga. “We know this isn’t easy given the many demands on Nigeria’s limited resources. So, we’re pleased to extend the health benefits of fulfilling this pledge even further, by supporting PHC for all of Nigeria’s children and families,” she added.