Nigeria Reaffirms Commitment to Global Pandemic Preparedness at UNGA
Nigeria has reaffirmed its commitment to strengthening pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, while calling for a more equitable and sustainable global health security architecture.
Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Iziaq Salako, stated this while delivering Nigeria’s National Statement on behalf of President Bola Tinubu at the High-Level Meeting on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response, held on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Salako stated that Nigeria believes preparedness is strongest when built on public health systems capable of preventing, detecting and controlling infectious threats daily.
“We believe that prevention is preparedness and that the strength of everyday public health systems determines how effectively nations detect threats early, respond rapidly, and maintain essential services during crises,” he said.
The Minister highlighted Nigeria’s progress in strengthening legal and institutional frameworks, expanding nationwide digital surveillance, institutionalising the 7-1-7 approach, and enhancing genomic sequencing capacity.
According to him, the country’s public health laboratory network now covers all 36 states, while Public Health Emergency Operations Centres support coordinated responses to outbreaks including Lassa fever, cholera, diphtheria and meningitis. He added that Nigeria’s Joint External Evaluation score improved from 39 percent in 2017 to 54 percent in 2023.
Salako added that the country is advancing the One Health approach, antimicrobial resistance governance, infection prevention and control, and emergency workforce capacity at national and sub-national levels, supported by the $250 million World Bank Health Security Programme.
He outlined five national priorities: strengthening national ownership and legal preparedness; placing prevention at the centre of preparedness; building integrated and resilient One Health systems; advancing equitable access, financing and African manufacturing; and deepening regional and global solidarity.
Nigeria called for equity to remain at the centre of the global agenda, stressing that access to pathogens must be matched by fair and timely benefit-sharing, including access to vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics.
The country also advocated sustainable financing for low- and middle-income countries, alongside technology transfer and stronger domestic manufacturing capacity in Africa.
Salako said Nigeria supports a holistic agenda that recognises diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria and HIV, and called for commensurate financing for them. He stressed that antimicrobial resistance must remain embedded in the global preparedness agenda.
He announced that Nigeria will host the 5th Global High-Level Ministerial Conference on Antimicrobial Resistance in December 2026, the first time the conference will be held in Africa.
The Minister further emphasised the importance of communities as partners in preparedness, noting that public trust cannot be built only after an emergency begins.
In a statement, Ado Bako, the Ministry’s Assistant Director of Information and Public Relations disclosed that Salako emphasized: “National ownership and global solidarity must advance together.”
