Abuja: The Federal Government, in collaboration with the European Union (EU) and the World Health Organisation (WHO), has inaugurated a pound 4.2 million programme aimed at strengthening public health institutions and disease outbreak preparedness nationwide. Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Iziaq Salako, announced during the inauguration that the initiative would bolster healthcare delivery and improve preparedness for future disease outbreaks across the country.
According to News Agency of Nigeria, the initiative, named EU Support to Public Health Institutes in Nigeria (EU SPIN), will be implemented over four years by the WHO in partnership with the Ministry of Health. Dr. Salako described the intervention as a significant boost to Nigeria’s healthcare delivery system, noting that it would enhance healthcare outcomes, especially for vulnerable populations in underserved areas across the nation.
Dr. Salako commended the European Union and WHO for their support of Nigeria’s healthcare reforms, emphasizing that the programme aligns with the Federal Government’s Renewed Hope Agenda on healthcare and social development nationwide. European Union Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Gautier Mignon, highlighted that the intervention demonstrates the EU’s commitment to supporting stronger and digitally enabled public health systems to improve healthcare coordination and response.
WHO Representative in Nigeria, Dr. Pavel Ursu, stated that the programme would enhance coordination, technical capacity, and digital tools required for effective outbreak response. He added that stronger systems would improve grassroots response to disease outbreaks nationwide, thus helping to protect lives and promote community health.
Stakeholders noted that the programme would support improved health outcomes for vulnerable groups, including women, children, internally displaced persons, the elderly, and persons living with disabilities across affected communities in Nigeria. By 2028, the programme is expected to enhance inter-institutional coordination, operational responsibilities, and public health data reliability at federal, state, and local government levels, thereby strengthening national disease response systems.
Officials indicated that progress under the initiative would be monitored through national evaluation systems and periodic reviews involving government agencies and development partners to ensure effective implementation and measurable healthcare improvements. The EU SPIN initiative is expected to foster institutional coordination, support real-time data-sharing systems, and enhance digital skills among public health workers involved in outbreak prevention and emergency response.
Nigeria continues to face recurrent outbreaks of diseases such as cholera, diphtheria, Lassa fever, meningitis, and Mpox, alongside increasing non-communicable diseases including hypertension and diabetes, which continue to exert pressure on healthcare systems nationwide.