Nigeria: Public Health Experts Speak on How Over 1.4 million Children Immunized in 2025
- ACE Strategy and Consults reached over 14 million children across Nigeria in 2025 through immunisation drug administration and population enumeration programmes
- The organisation vaccinated more than 349000 children using an edutainment-driven approach and identified over 123000 previously missed children through digital enumeration
- ACE expanded operations to over 31 states while strengthening health systems community engagement and equity-focused public health delivery
A mission-driven public health consulting organisation, ACE Strategy and Consults, has announced that it directly reached more than 1.4 million children across Nigeria in 2025 through immunisation, drug administration and population enumeration programmes.
The disclosure was made on Friday, December 12, in Abuja by the organisation’s Managing Partner, Mr Afeez Olajire, during a press conference highlighting ACE’s 2025 programme outcomes and future direction.
Source: Original
ACE Strategy and Consults focuses on advancing health equity, strengthening health systems and driving community-centred innovations across Nigeria, working closely with government institutions, donors and local communities.
Edutainment approach boosts vaccine uptake
Mr Olajire said one of the organisation’s flagship interventions in 2025 was its edutainment-driven immunisation strategy, which combines education and entertainment to improve vaccine acceptance.
According to him, 349,319 children were vaccinated in 2025 through edutainment-supported immunisation rounds, bringing the total number of children reached between 2024 and 2025 to over 577,000.
The initiative was implemented across 11 high-risk northern states and more than 200 wards.
“We realised that conventional approaches were no longer enough. People needed to understand, trust and relate to the message.
“Using real-life stories and trusted community voices helped reduce non-compliance and significantly improved caregiver trust," Olajire said.
Digital innovation identifies missed children
ACE also deployed a digital “Identify, Enumerate and Vaccinate” model to strengthen routine immunisation planning and coverage.
Mr Olajire revealed that 683,875 children were enumerated across more than 555,000 households, while about 123,000 previously missed children were identified in Gombe State due to weak documentation in health registries.
He said updated GIS-based microplanning tools were introduced to improve data accuracy and service delivery.
“We cannot fix what we cannot see. Data helps us know exactly where the gaps are and how to close them,” he explained.
Mass drug administration supports child survival
In Kano state, ACE provided technical support for azithromycin mass drug administration, supervising more than 1,000 drug delivery teams and reaching nearly 500,000 children under the age of five.
The organisation handled recruitment, onboarding and mentorship of field workers to improve campaign quality.
“Our role is not just delivery but quality assurance. We focus on how the work is done, not just the numbers,” Olajire said.
Systems strengthening and influencer mapping expanded
Source: Original
The Managing Partner said ACE conducted influencer and gatekeeper landscape mapping across 17 southern states, producing a national influencer engagement database to guide public health messaging.
He added that the organisation institutionalised a primary healthcare performance management improvement model in Kano state to strengthen service delivery at the grassroots.
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“Every community is different. Who you speak to in one state may not work in another,” he said.
Community impact beyond immunisation
Beyond immunisation, ACE undertook several community-focused initiatives in 2025, including the distribution of 40 cartons of sanitary pads to adolescent girls in a public school to mark World Menstrual Hygiene Day.
The organisation also conducted a diabetes screening outreach for over 200 community members, referring those who required further medical attention.
“These are about dignity, prevention and access,” Olajire noted.
Reflecting on the organisation’s philosophy, Olajire said ACE was created to challenge rigid systems that deliver poor results while prioritising humanity and excellence.
“We believe we can do great work without being inhumane to our people.
“Our goal is to ensure that whether a child is born rich or poor, they have the same opportunity to live a healthy life," he said.
He stressed that ACE’s quality standards remain consistent regardless of project size or funding source.
“A project funded with five thousand dollars gets the same rigour as one funded with five million dollars,” he said.
ACE: Expansion, sustainability and future plans
Mr Olajire said ACE expanded its reach from 10 states to presence in over 31 states within a year, supported by strong internal systems, staff mentorship and knowledge management structures.
He disclosed that the organisation established dedicated research, data and knowledge management units to preserve institutional memory and promote evidence-based solutions.
“Our aim is not to make governments dependent on us. We want to work with them, through them and eventually work ourselves out of the job by strengthening their systems," he said.
Olajire urged governments to deepen equity-driven decision-making, especially as international donor funding declines.
“Equity is not giving everyone the same thing; it is giving people what they need,” he said.
WHO vaccination campaign in Gaza gains momentum
Previously, Legit.ng reported that the World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Wednesday that it aimed to vaccinate more than 40,000 children in Gaza against a range of diseases, taking advantage of the fragile ceasefire currently in place.
Officials said that more than 10,000 children under the age of three had already received vaccines in the first eight days of the campaign, which began on November 9.
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Source: Legit.ng
