By Adamu Yusuf
Key health sector stakeholders have reaffirmed the need for stronger national ownership and coordination of the Safety and Antimicrobial Resistance of Mass Administration of Azithromycin Among Children aged one to fifty-nine months, known as the SARMAAN project, as part of efforts to accelerate child survival interventions in Nigeria.
The call was made during a high-level stakeholder roundtable held in Abuja 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 aimed to strengthen institutional alignment, clarify governance structures, and advance Nigeria’s pathway toward integrating the SARMAAN II intervention into national child survival policies.
Chairman of the SARMAAN II Steering Committee and Director of the Family Health Department at the Federal Ministry of Health, Dr. John Ovuoraye, said safeguarding the lives of Nigerian children must remain a national priority.
Dr. Ovuoraye stressed that discussions around the project must be outcome-oriented and aligned with existing government coordination structures.
He also emphasized the need for adjustments within SARMAAN’s governance framework to ensure inclusive engagement and reinforce collective institutional ownership among national stakeholders.
Participants at the meeting agreed that Nigeria must increasingly lead the narrative and drive informed government decision-making on child survival interventions.
The SARMAAN II project represents Nigeria’s contribution to the Resiliency through Azithromycin for Children Network and is designed to generate national evidence on the effectiveness of Azithromycin Mass Drug Administration in reducing under-five mortality while monitoring antimicrobial resistance and ensuring safety.
Principal Investigator of the SARMAAN project at the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Professor Oliver Ezechi, explained that the initiative is part of an African-led effort involving Ministries of Health and international partners to reduce child mortality through evidence-based interventions in high-mortality settings.
Giving an overview of the project’s progress, Senior Project Manager at Solina, Ijeoma Mmirikwe, revealed that more than thirteen million children had been reached between twenty-twenty-four and twenty-twenty-six.
She added that nineteen rounds of mass drug administration had been successfully implemented across ten states including Adamawa, Gombe, Yobe, Bauchi, Kaduna, Kano, Jigawa, Katsina, Kebbi, and Sokoto.
According to her, over five point seven million bottles of Azithromycin have been distributed across the states with no serious adverse events recorded during the implementation of the programme.
Also speaking at the meeting, Project Lead of the SARMAAN Advocacy Project Team, Ikechukwu Ofuani, highlighted the role of the advocacy consortium supporting national ownership, policy integration, communication, and knowledge management for the initiative.
He explained that the advocacy effort focuses on ensuring government ownership of the intervention, integrating SARMAAN into Nigeria’s Child Survival Action Plan, securing sustainable domestic financing, and strengthening public awareness and policy engagement.
The consortium is led by Policy Vault Africa, with communications support from Saldrey Communications Limited and Big Cabal Media.
The SARMAAN programme builds on international evidence from Niger, Tanzania, and Malawi, where similar Azithromycin interventions have demonstrated up to a thirteen-point-eight percent reduction in child mortality.
Nigeria’s implementation adapts the approach to the local context while generating country-specific evidence and strengthening state and community ownership.
