ABUJA, June 26, 2026 – A nationwide campaign aimed at improving adolescent health and preventing cervical cancer has reached millions of Nigerians while increasing access to the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine for thousands of young girls.
The Country Director of Girl Effect Nigeria, Mrs. Boladale Akin-Kolapo, disclosed this during the national close-out and dissemination meeting of the “OYA” campaign held in Abuja.
The initiative, focused on adolescent health advocacy, was designed to protect girls between the ages of nine and 14 from cervical cancer while also addressing issues related to adolescent nutrition and wellbeing.
Akin-Kolapo said the programme, implemented in partnership with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and the Federal Government, successfully mobilised more than 18 million Nigerians and facilitated the vaccination of 26,000 adolescent girls across Kaduna, Delta, Ekiti, Ondo and Oyo states.
According to her, the five-year intervention sought to boost public acceptance of the HPV vaccine and influence positive behavioural and social change within communities.
She explained that the project adopted a broad community engagement model involving schools, traditional institutions, healthcare facilities and digital platforms to build confidence in vaccination programmes.
“Vaccines do not save lives sitting in cold-chain facilities; they save lives when people trust them, parents understand them, and communities embrace them,” she said.
Akin-Kolapo revealed that the campaign reached over 4.1 million people through digital channels and approximately 18 million listeners through radio programmes.
She added that more than 315 teachers and healthcare workers received training, while over 7,800 community engagement activities were conducted during the lifespan of the project.
Speaking on lessons learned, she noted that one of the biggest obstacles to public health interventions was not logistics but addressing social, cultural and behavioural barriers that often influence health decisions.
She described the OYA campaign as a rallying call encouraging communities to take proactive steps in safeguarding the health of their children.
As the donor-supported programme comes to an end, Akin-Kolapo stressed the importance of sustaining its achievements through integration into routine healthcare systems.
She urged federal, state and local governments to allocate resources for Social and Behaviour Change Communication (SBCC) initiatives and embed them within existing healthcare structures.
According to her, maintaining public confidence in the HPV vaccine and tackling misinformation consistently will be critical to sustaining demand in the years ahead.
She emphasised that the long-term success of HPV vaccination efforts in Nigeria would depend largely on government ownership, funding and institutional support rather than external donor assistance.
Akin-Kolapo also reaffirmed Girl Effect’s commitment to continued collaboration with the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Gavi and state governments to strengthen adolescent health programmes, reduce child marriage and improve sexual and reproductive health outcomes.
She encouraged policymakers to move beyond short-term project approaches and focus on building resilient healthcare systems capable of sustaining public health gains.
Also speaking at the event, the Director of Disease Control and Immunisation at the NPHCDA, Dr. Garba Rufai, said Nigeria had recorded remarkable progress in immunisation despite widespread misinformation campaigns on social media.
He urged state governments to take greater responsibility for sustaining vaccination efforts by investing in capacity building and ensuring effective transfer of knowledge from donor-funded programmes.
“The business of immunisation is about persistence. Our measure of success will be what happens months after this close-out. We must ensure that nothing falls through the cracks as we transition,” he said.
Representatives of development partners also commended the campaign’s achievements. A Senior Programme Officer with the immunisation programme of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Dr. Aruwa Oteri, praised the focus on behavioural change communication as a tool for overcoming cultural barriers.
Similarly, a representative of the World Health Organization, Dr. Chisom Emeka, applauded the campaign’s youth-focused and technology-driven strategies, reaffirming support for efforts to strengthen routine immunisation across the country.
Speaking on behalf of participating states, the Oyo State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Oluwaserimi Ajetunmobi, said the campaign’s evidence-based communication model and gender-sensitive approach would help shape future health policies and adolescent healthcare investments.
Stakeholders at the meeting agreed that sustaining awareness, strengthening routine immunisation systems and expanding community engagement would be essential to protecting more girls from cervical cancer and improving adolescent health outcomes nationwide.