Nigeria Secures $500m From Gavi for Vaccines, Primary Healthcare Centres

Nigeria has secured nearly US$500 million from Gavi, as the vaccine alliance's support for vaccines and primary healthcare for the country over the 2026–2030 period.

The funding announcement followed high-level discussions between the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Muhammad Ali Pate, and Gavi Chief Executive Officer, Dr Sania Nishtar, in Abuja.

According to the Health Ministry, the funding, approved under the Gavi 6.0 programme, will support Nigeria's efforts to accelerate routine immunisation, sustain polio eradication, expand HPV vaccination, strengthen primary healthcare services, and improve long-term vaccine financing.

Speaking during the meeting, Pate said Nigeria was strengthening its partnership with Gavi to accelerate immunisation, expand primary healthcare services, and ensure sustainable financing for vaccines. He welcomed Gavi's country-focused reforms, including the introduction of a predictable five-year funding envelope, a shift he said would give Nigeria greater planning certainty than the shorter funding cycles of the past.

The minister said the US$500 million allocation will enable Nigeria to plan more effectively and deliver life-saving vaccines to more children and vulnerable populations across the country's 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

Pate also pointed to measurable progress in Nigeria's primary healthcare revitalisation drive, revealing that quarterly visits to primary healthcare centres had increased from about 10 million in 2023 to more than 45 million, a more than fourfold rise that he described as reflecting significant progress in reviving the country's primary healthcare system.

The minister further welcomed the announcement of a US$600 million pledge by the United States government to Gavi, describing it as a strong endorsement of the alliance's leadership and the global value of vaccines. He commended Nishtar for prioritising Nigeria and praised the closer coordination among Gavi, the World Health Organisation, UNICEF, the World Bank, the Gates Foundation, and other development partners, describing it as a model that has improved efficiency and aligned support with Nigeria's health sector reforms.

Pate expressed appreciation to Gavi and its partners for their continued technical and financial support, while calling on state governments to invest more in healthcare and immunisation to complement federal efforts.

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, is a public-private global health partnership that has worked with Nigeria for over two decades to expand access to childhood vaccines, and the country remains one of its largest recipients of support on the continent given its population size and historically low routine immunisation coverage in several states. Nigeria has in recent years pursued an ambitious primary healthcare revitalisation agenda aimed at reviving thousands of dormant health facilities nationwide, a push officials say is central to closing immunisation gaps, particularly in hard-to-reach rural and conflict-affected communities in the North.

The new five-year funding commitment comes as Nigeria continues efforts to sustain its polio-free status, expand cervical cancer prevention through HPV vaccination for adolescent girls, and reduce the country's persistently high burden of vaccine-preventable childhood diseases. Health sector observers say predictable, multi-year financing of this kind is critical for government and state health authorities to plan procurement, cold-chain logistics and health worker deployment well in advance, rather than reacting to funding gaps year to year.

The announcement adds to a series of recent engagements between Nigerian health authorities and global health financiers, as the Federal Government continues to court both bilateral and multilateral partners to shore up domestic health financing amid broader global aid funding pressures affecting low- and middle-income countries.