Nigeria Moves to Strengthen Child Survival Strategy as Stakeholders Rally Around SARMAAN Project

By Uzairu Dauda Bunga:

Key health sector stakeholders have reiterated the need for stronger national ownership and coordination of the Safety and Antimicrobial Resistance of Mass Administration of Azithromycin Among Children 1–59 Months (SARMAAN) project as part of efforts to accelerate child survival interventions across Nigeria.

The call was made during a high-level stakeholder roundtable convened following recommendations from the National Child Health Technical Working Group and the Director of the Family Health Department at the Federal Ministry of Health.

The meeting focused on strengthening institutional alignment, clarifying governance structures, and advancing Nigeria’s pathway toward integrating the SARMAAN II intervention into national child survival policies.

On his part, the chairman of the SARMAAN II Steering Committee and Director of the Family Health Department, Dr. John Ovuoraye, emphasized that protecting the lives of Nigerian children must remain a national priority.

He said for the progressive inclusion of SARMAAN II into Nigeria’s Child Survival Action Plan, Stakeholders must co-create and implement solutions together.

Dr. Ovuoraye stressed that discussions surrounding the project must remain outcome-driven and aligned with existing government coordination frameworks.

The Chairman also highlighted the need to refine SARMAAN’s governance structure to ensure inclusive engagement and reinforce collective institutional ownership among national stakeholders.

He added that research alone cannot translate into policy, adding that all partners and technical teams must work together, and everyone in this room must ensure we succeed as a country.

Ovuaraye said, the SARMAAN II project represents Nigeria’s contribution to the Resiliency through Azithromycin for Children (REACH) Network, a regional initiative aimed at generating robust evidence on the effectiveness of Azithromycin Mass Drug Administration (MDA) in reducing under-five mortality while closely monitoring antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and ensuring safety.

According to the Principal Investigator of the SARMAAN project, Prof. Oliver Ezechi of the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, the initiative forms part of an African-led collaboration involving Ministries of Health and international partners working to reduce child mortality in high-burden settings through evidence-based interventions.

Providing a progress update on SARMAAN II, Ijeoma Mmirikwe, Senior Project Manager at Solina, reported that the project has reached over 13 million unique children between 2024 and 2026.

She noted that nineteen rounds of Mass Drug Administration (MDA) have been successfully implemented across Adamawa, Gombe, Yobe, Bauchi, Kaduna, Kano, Jigawa, Katsina, Kebbi, and Sokoto states.

Mmirikwe said, during this period, more than 5.7 million bottles of Azithromycin have been distributed across the ten states, with no serious adverse events recorded during implementation.

Also speaking at the meeting, Ikechukwu Ofuani, Project Lead of the SARMAAN Advocacy Project Team, introduced the advocacy consortium supporting national ownership, policy integration, communications, and knowledge management for the initiative.

According to Ofuani, the advocacy effort is focused on strengthening government ownership of the intervention, integrating SARMAAN into Nigeria’s Child Survival Action Plan, securing sustainable domestic financing, and expanding public awareness and policy engagement.

He said, the SARMAAN programme builds on strong international evidence from Niger, Tanzania, and Malawi, where similar Azithromycin interventions have demonstrated up to a 13.8 percent reduction in child mortality.

Ofuani added that, Nigeria’s implementation adapts this proven approach to the local context while generating country-specific evidence and strengthening state and community ownership.

Participants at the meeting agreed that Nigeria must increasingly lead the narrative and drive evidence-informed government decision-making on child survival interventions.