eHealth Africa: 23m Children Vaccinated Against Polio Across 15 States in H1 2026

More than 23 million children were vaccinated against polio and other vaccine-preventable diseases across 15 Nigerian states in the first half of 2026, according to the Executive Director of eHealth Africa, Atef Fawaz.

Fawaz disclosed the figure on Thursday, identifying the affected states as Niger, Kano, Jigawa, Kebbi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Bauchi, Kaduna, Sokoto, Katsina, Gombe, Yobe, Borno, Adamawa, and Zamfara. He explained that the vaccination campaign was supported by eHealth Africa across more than 205,000 settlements nationwide.

According to Fawaz, the organisation expanded its use of digital technology, Geospatial Tracking Systems (GTS), renewable energy solutions, laboratory infrastructure, and public health coordination systems to support the campaign's reach and effectiveness. He made the disclosure at the release of eHealth Africa's 2026 Mid-Year Report, titled "Expanding Reach, Readiness and Resilience: Data-Driven Health Systems Across Africa."

Fawaz explained that the report highlights the organisation's interventions between January and June 2026, demonstrating progress in expanding access to essential health services, strengthening preparedness for public health emergencies, and building more resilient health systems across the African continent.

"They reflect what becomes possible when governments, communities, technology, infrastructure, and local expertise work together to strengthen the systems behind healthcare delivery. Our focus is not simply on deploying solutions, but on building systems that institutions can own, sustain, and continue to improve," Fawaz said, framing the organisation's approach as one centred on long-term institutional capacity rather than one-off interventions.

Providing further detail on the technology underpinning the campaign, Fawaz said eHealth Africa expanded deployment of its in-house PlanFeld digital tool across 253 local government areas in 10 northern states, supporting 33,837 vaccination teams with digitised microplans and catchment-area maps. These digital tools are designed to help vaccination teams navigate and track coverage across specific geographic zones more precisely than traditional paper-based planning methods allow, reducing the risk of missed settlements or duplicated efforts during large-scale immunisation campaigns.

Beyond the northern states, Fawaz added that the same technology was also deployed across four local government areas in Lagos State during a Measles-Rubella vaccination campaign, where 1,980 digitised maps were produced and distributed to vaccination teams operating in the state.

eHealth Africa has, over the years, positioned itself as a key technical partner supporting Nigeria's public health infrastructure, particularly in the country's ongoing efforts to eradicate polio and strengthen routine immunisation coverage across historically underserved northern states. The organisation's use of geospatial mapping and digital microplanning tools reflects a broader shift within Nigeria's public health sector toward data-driven approaches for vaccination campaign planning, an approach health officials say has helped improve the accuracy and efficiency of large-scale immunisation drives in hard-to-reach communities.

With more than 23 million children reached in just the first half of 2026 alone, the figures disclosed by Fawaz suggest continued scale in Nigeria's vaccination campaigns, even as the country continues to grapple with broader public health challenges, including persistent gaps in routine immunisation coverage in certain remote and conflict-affected areas. The mid-year report's emphasis on building sustainable, institution-owned systems suggests eHealth Africa's continued focus will remain on strengthening the underlying digital and logistical infrastructure supporting these campaigns, rather than solely on the immediate vaccination figures themselves.