Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and health advocates have called for stronger political commitment, increased financing, coordinated action and greater use of technology to accelerate Nigeria’s progress towards achieving its 2030 health targets.
They made the call on Friday in Abuja at a meeting on the implementation of the 2026/2027 Collaborative Advocacy Action Plan (CAAP).
The meeting was convened by the Africa Health Budget Network (AHBN) and supported by the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health (PMNCH).
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the CAAP is part of PMNCH’s partner-led approach to strengthening collective advocacy and accountability for commitments to women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health, including maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health.
In Nigeria, AHBN is coordinating the 2026/2027 CAAP, which aims to strengthen advocacy coalitions, influence decision-makers, improve accountability and support the implementation of agreed national health commitments.
Speaking at the meeting, Regional Portfolio Director for Western Central Africa and Country Director, Pathfinder International Nigeria, Dr Amina Dorayi, said technology, including Artificial Intelligence (AI), could help accelerate progress towards the 2030 targets.
Dorayi said achieving the goal of “every woman, every newborn, everywhere” required deliberate investment, effective implementation and collaboration among policymakers, healthcare providers, development partners and communities.
“Every pregnancy is safe, every delivery is safe, every newborn is healthy, every mother that has just given birth is healthy, irrespective of where she has delivered or where they live,” she said.
She said resources must be deliberately directed towards ensuring that health workers, medicines, infrastructure and essential services are available, particularly in rural and underserved communities.
Dorayi identified collaboration and accountability as key lessons from the implementation of the Maternal and Newborn Health Acceleration Plan, stressing that no government or organisation could tackle maternal deaths alone.
She called for stronger accountability in the use of health-sector resources and urged stakeholders to ensure that funds allocated for women and children were used for their intended purposes.
She also urged the government to increase investment in primary healthcare centres and ensure that federal reforms were effectively implemented at the state and local government levels.
“It is not all about treatment; it is also about prevention. We need to also invest in health promotion and whatever it takes to ensure that women take responsibility for their health,” she said.
Also speaking, AHBN focal point on CAAP implementation and health security in Nigeria, Mrs Khadija Bobboi, said the initiative brought government and civil society organisations together to advance women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health.
Bobboi said the CAAP, now in its second year in Nigeria, focused on health financing, collaboration, adolescent health and wellbeing, and implementation of the Maternal and Newborn Health Acceleration Plan.
She said the meeting would also support the validation of the RMNCAH+N Budget Accountability Scorecard and five advocacy and policy briefs covering family planning, health financing and adolescent health.
According to her, the materials would provide evidence for advocacy engagements with government, parliamentarians, development partners, the media and other stakeholders.
Meanwhile, Chairman of the Association for the Advancement of Family Planning, Dr Ejike Oji, attributed Nigeria’s continued high maternal and newborn mortality to inadequate implementation of existing policies and insufficient leadership commitment.
“I will say it is the willpower. If our leaders agree that Nigeria should be a place where no woman should die, it will happen,” Oji said.
He said Nigeria had some of the strongest maternal and reproductive health policies and guidelines in Africa but had struggled to translate them into measurable results.
Oji called for greater attention to the “last mile” of healthcare delivery by identifying facilities and communities recording high levels of maternal and newborn deaths and concentrating resources in those areas.
According to him, successful interventions in high-burden facilities could provide lessons for wider implementation across the country.
He also urged CSOs to work together and speak with one voice when engaging policymakers, noting that coordinated advocacy would reduce duplication and make engagements more effective.
NAN reports that the CAAP meeting also provided a platform for partners to review the Maternal and Newborn Health Acceleration Plan, identify implementation gaps and agree on priority areas for joint advocacy and accountability.
Participants reviewed existing advocacy materials, identified gaps, strengthened coalition coordination and agreed on practical mechanisms for joint action towards improving health outcomes.
Ultimately, the CAAP seeks to strengthen collective advocacy and accountability around national priorities in maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health, sexual and reproductive health and rights, and adolescent wellbeing.
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