Nigeria calls for fairer pandemic financing and vaccine access at UN meeting

Nigeria has called for a fairer global pandemic preparedness system, including increased financing, technology transfer and stronger manufacturing capacity in Africa. Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare Iziaq Salako made the appeal while delivering Nigeria’s national statement on behalf of President Bola Tinubu at a high-level United Nations meeting on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response in New York. The meeting was held on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly.

Mr. Salako said preparedness had to begin with public health systems able to prevent, detect and respond to threats before they became emergencies. He said Nigeria was strengthening its legal and institutional frameworks, expanding digital disease surveillance, improving genomic sequencing and enhancing multi-hazard preparedness.

He also outlined Nigeria’s use of the 7-1-7 approach, which aims to detect a suspected public health threat within seven days, notify the relevant authorities within one day and complete the initial response within seven days. Nigeria’s public health laboratory network, he said, now covers all 36 states, while emergency operations centres support responses to outbreaks including Lassa fever, cholera, diphtheria and meningitis. Mr.

Salako said equity should remain central to the global agenda. Countries that provide access to pathogens, he said, should receive fair and timely benefits from resulting vaccines, diagnostics and treatments. He called for rapidly accessible financing for low- and middle-income countries and greater domestic manufacturing capacity, particularly in Africa.

Nigeria’s Joint External Evaluation score improved from 39% in 2017 to 54% in 2023, he said. A $250-million World Bank Health Security Programme is also supporting capacity at federal and state levels under a One Health approach. Mr.

Salako described antimicrobial resistance as both a current public health threat and a factor increasing pandemic risks. He announced that Nigeria would host the fifth Global High-Level Ministerial Conference on Antimicrobial Resistance in December 2026, the first such edition to be held in Africa. He also called for sustained investment in community engagement, risk communication, social listening, hygiene and infodemic management between emergencies.