Health
Senate passes bill to create agency for malaria elimination
The Senate on Wednesday passed a bill seeking to establish the National Agency for Malaria Elimination in Nigeria.
The upper chamber passed the bill after considering the report of its Committee on Health, presented by Banigo Ipalibo, its chairman.
The clauses of the bill were considered at the Committee of the Whole.
The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, announced the passage of the bill after a majority of the senators supported it through a voice vote.
The bill was sponsored by the senator representing Delta North Senatorial District, Ned Nwoko.
The legislation seeks to establish an agency to coordinate national efforts to prevent, control, and eventually eliminate malaria in Nigeria. It also mandates the agency to formulate and periodically review a national malaria elimination strategic plan and coordinate the implementation of malaria programmes and interventions across the country.
In addition, the bill provides for the establishment of zonal and state offices to drive malaria elimination efforts nationwide. The agency is expected to institutionalise malaria elimination through a framework backed by law, science and accountability.
The bill will be transmitted to the House of Representatives for concurrence before being forwarded to President Bola Tinubu for assent.
Report of the committee
Presenting the committee’s report, Mrs Ipalibo, who represents Rivers West Senatorial District on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), said the proposed agency would serve as the central coordinating body for malaria prevention and elimination in Nigeria.
“The agency will be responsible for coordinating all national efforts towards the prevention, control and eventual elimination of malaria,” she said.
The senator stated that stakeholders who participated in the public hearing overwhelmingly supported the bill, noting that it would provide institutional mechanisms at all levels of government to tackle malaria, which has remained a major public health challenge in the country.
She added that the establishment of the agency would help shift Nigeria’s approach from largely treating malaria cases to preventing and ultimately eliminating the disease.
Contributing to the debate, Mr Nwoko said that eliminating malaria in Nigeria is both practical and achievable.
“In the course of my research on the elimination of Malaria, I went to Antarctica with some of my legislative aides, after which I came up with the bill,” he said.
He maintained that malaria elimination could be achieved through the establishment of a dedicated agency focused on effective waste management, fumigation and vaccine research.
“Eradicating or Eliminating Malaria is achievable in Nigeria through a special agency for that purpose. The agency, when established, shall, through effective waste management, fumigation and research on vaccines, see to the elimination of malaria in Nigeria,” he added.
After announcing the passage of the bill, Mr Akpabio described the legislation as a landmark intervention in the fight against malaria, which he noted remains one of the most common diseases affecting Nigerians.
Malaria remains one of Nigeria’s most serious public health challenges despite decades of interventions by governments, international organisations and development partners.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), Nigeria bears the highest malaria burden globally, accounting for about 27 per cent of the world’s malaria cases and nearly 32 per cent of malaria-related deaths. Nigeria, alongside the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Niger Republic, accounts for more than half of all malaria deaths recorded in Africa.
The disease is transmitted by bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes and remains endemic across the country, particularly during the rainy season, when mosquito breeding increases.
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Children under the age of five and pregnant women are the most vulnerable groups. WHO estimates show that children under five account for the overwhelming majority of malaria-related deaths in Africa. In Nigeria, malaria is one of the leading causes of illness, hospital visits and deaths among young children.
Aside from its health consequences, malaria imposes a significant economic burden on Nigeria. The disease contributes to school absenteeism, reduced productivity, increased household healthcare spending, and pressure on the country’s health system. Experts estimate that Nigeria loses billions of naira annually through treatment costs, reduced workforce productivity and preventable deaths linked to malaria.
Although the country has made progress through the distribution of insecticide-treated mosquito nets, seasonal malaria chemoprevention programmes, indoor residual spraying and improved access to diagnosis and treatment, the disease continues to pose a major threat due to poor sanitation, inadequate healthcare access, drug resistance, climate-related factors and funding gaps.
In 2024, Nigeria received and began rolling out the Oxford R21 malaria vaccine, becoming one of the first countries in Africa to deploy the vaccine as part of efforts to reduce infections and deaths among children. Health authorities, however, maintain that vaccination must be complemented by existing preventive measures such as mosquito nets, environmental sanitation and prompt treatment.
Twenty-five art students of the Yaba College of Technology (Yabatech), Lagos State, have explored mental health and emotional well-being through art in a workshop aimed at encouraging conversations around mental health.
The two-day Health Story Lab, organised by the Yemisi Shyllon Museum of Art (YSMA), Pan-Atlantic University, in collaboration with the Art for Health Initiative (AHI), was held on 2 and 3 October in Lagos.
The programme, titled “What We Carry: Stories of Mental Health and Resilience”, brought together art, public health, mental health and storytelling to help the students explore how creative expression can be used to communicate experiences that may be difficult to discuss openly.
The workshop was held ahead of World Mental Health Day (WMHD), marked annually on 10 October.
Using art to discuss mental health
The students participated in sessions on public health and art, mental health and resilience, creative expression and art for social change.
According to the organisers, the discussions gave the students an opportunity to reflect on issues such as stress, uncertainty, social pressure, family expectations, grief, fear and hope.
The students subsequently developed creative concepts and received feedback from facilitators and their peers.
The students also examined the role of art in health communication during a session led by Olayinka Badmus, a public health strategist. The session explored how creative expression can communicate public health issues and make health conversations more accessible.
Another session, led by psychiatrist and psychotherapist Emmanuel Abayomi, focused on mental health and resilience, while Art Project Lead Temitope Oladeji guided students to express their experiences and emotions through art. The programme also included a museum tour focused on art for social change, led by a museum educator, Charles Udeh.
Solomon Nkwagu, Head of Corporate Communication and Visitors’ Services at YSMA, said the programme showed the potential of art to encourage conversations around public and mental health.
“They began to see the possibility of using their creative voices to start conversations around public and mental health, to tell stories that people can recognise themselves in, and perhaps even to create moments of reflection and healing for others. That shift in perspective was one of the most rewarding parts of the programme,” Mr Nkwagu said.
In her remarks, Chidera Aneke, Founder of AHI, said the initiative was designed to make health communication more participatory, culturally relevant and emotionally engaging.
Ms Aneke said health information could be communicated not only through statistics and clinical information but also through stories, images, symbols, emotions and lived experiences.
“We wanted to create a space where young artists could understand that health is not only communicated through statistics, campaigns or clinical information. It can also be communicated through stories, images, symbols, emotions and lived experiences,” she said.
“Working with the students showed us the possibilities that emerge when artists are given the knowledge, language and space to think about health through their own creative practice.”
Mental health burden
Mental health remains a significant public health concern in Nigeria.
A 2026 systematic review and meta-analysis of 53 studies involving more than 132,000 people estimated that 7.9 per cent of the general population had experienced suicidal thoughts, while 1.9 per cent had made suicidal plans and 1.3 per cent had attempted suicide.
The researchers said suicidal behaviour was more common among some groups, including adolescents, young people, and pregnant women.
This year’s World Mental Health Day theme is “Lived experiences heard: real voices, real change.”
The World Health Organisation (WHO) is calling for people who have experienced mental health conditions to have a meaningful role in shaping policies, services and decisions that affect them.
“World Mental Health Day is an opportunity to meaningfully engage with people with lived experience (PWLE) of mental health conditions and to recognise their knowledge as a vital form of expertise,” it noted.
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“This year’s campaign calls for their voices to shape the policies, services and decisions that affect their lives.”
From workshop to exhibition
The Yabatech students will develop artworks based on the issues explored during the workshop.
The works are expected to form a micro-exhibition in Lagos in November, giving members of the public an opportunity to engage with mental health and resilience through the perspectives of young artists.
The organisers said the initiative is intended to demonstrate how partnerships between the creative sector, museums and public health practitioners can create new ways of discussing mental health.
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Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, says 9.5 million children in 57 supported countries received no routine vaccine in 2025, despite gains in global immunisation.
The figure, described as the number of “zero-dose” children, was contained in Gavi’s 2025 Annual Progress Report, which reviewed the alliance’s 2021-2025 strategic period.
Gavi defines zero-dose children as infants who have not received the first dose of a diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis-containing vaccine by the end of their first year.
Number falls from 2021 peak
According to the report, the number of zero-dose children in 2025 was 600,000 lower than in 2024 and 25 per cent lower than the peak recorded in 2021 following disruptions to routine immunisation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, the figure remained four per cent above the 2019 baseline, partly because of continued growth in the number of children being born.
Gavi said children living in fragile, conflict-affected and humanitarian settings remain among those most likely to be missed by immunisation programmes.
Nigeria remains one of the countries with the highest number of zero-dose children. UNICEF estimated that about 2.2 million Nigerian children had never received a routine vaccine in 2025, the highest number in Africa.
Nigeria records gains in targeted areas
The report highlighted Nigeria, Ethiopia and Pakistan among countries where emerging data showed stronger immunisation coverage gains in sub-national areas that received greater Gavi focus and investment during the 2021-2025 period.
Gavi said the findings underscored the value of targeted, equity-focused investments in reaching communities that are being missed by routine immunisation.
The report also identified Nigeria among countries covered by Gavi’s Zero-Dose Learning Hubs, which examined what works and what does not in identifying and reaching zero-dose and under-immunised children.
The findings from Nigeria, Bangladesh, Mali and Uganda highlighted several issues, including gender-related barriers to immunisation.
73m children immunised in 2025
Despite the number of zero-dose children, Gavi said more than 73 million children were immunised through routine programmes with its support in 2025.
More than 351 million children were immunised during the 2021-2025 strategic period, “exceeding Gavi’s target of 300 million children.”
“By end 2025, Gavi-supported countries had immunised more than 1.3 billion unique children with Gavi support since 2000, exceeding our Investment Opportunity 2021-2025 commitment of more than 1.1 billion children immunised by 2025,” it noted.
Gavi said vaccination averted more than 2.2 million future deaths in 2025, bringing the total number of future deaths averted through its supported vaccination programmes to more than 7.8 million during the 2021-2025 period.
Generated economic benefits
The report said immunisation programmes generated more than $30 billion in economic benefits for Gavi-supported countries in 2025, the highest amount recorded in a single year.
The benefits were calculated from the costs of illness averted, including medical and associated costs, caretaker wages and productivity losses resulting from disability or death.
Gavi said the programmes generated more than $104 billion in economic benefits between 2021 and 2025 and more than $308 billion between 2000 and 2025.
Countries also contributed a record $301 million towards the co-financing of Gavi-supported vaccines in 2025, an 18 per cent increase from 2024.
About 80 per cent of the contribution came from domestic resources, while “approximately 20 per cent from low-interest loans from the World Bank.”
Gavi said countries had contributed a total of $2.2 billion towards vaccine co-financing since the policy was introduced in 2008.
More children
For its 2026 to 2030 strategic period, Gavi said it aims to protect another 500 million children through immunisation and avert between eight million and nine million future deaths.
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The Alliance also targets more than $100 billion in economic benefits during the period. Gavi said it would place greater emphasis on reaching zero-dose and under-immunised children while strengthening the sustainability of national immunisation programmes.
In her comments, Gavi Chief Executive Officer, Sania Nishtar, said the results showed that immunisation generates benefits beyond preventing disease. “However, when it comes to immunisation we know that the return on investment extends far beyond health to supporting sustainable, inclusive economic growth,” Ms Nishtar said.
WHO Director-General, Tedros Ghebreyesus, also said immunisation delivers massive gains in lives saved and diseases prevented, but also in terms of economic benefits.
“Countries understand that the cost of failing to vaccinate is far too great, while the benefits extend across families, communities, economies and future generations,” Mr Ghebreyesus was quoted to have said.
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