Key health sector stakeholders have reaffirmed the need for commitment to strengthening national ownership and coordination of the Safety and Antimicrobial Resistance of Mass Administration of Azithromycin Among Children 1–59 Months (SARMAAN) project, as part of broader efforts to accelerate child survival interventions in Nigeria.

The call was made during a high-level stakeholder roundtable convened following recommendations from the National Child Health Technical Working Group (NCH TWG) 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.

Chair of the SARMAAN II Steering Committee and Director/Head of the Family Health Department, Dr. John Ovuoraye, emphasised that safeguarding the lives of Nigerian children must remain a national priority.

“Survival is the most fundamental right of Nigerian children,” he said. “For the progressive inclusion of SARMAAN II into Nigeria’s Child Survival Action Plan, we must co-create and implement solutions together.”

Dr. Ovuoraye stressed that discussions around the project must be outcome-oriented and aligned with existing government coordination structures.

He also highlighted the need for adjustments within SARMAAN’s governance framework to ensure inclusive engagement and reinforce collective institutional ownership among national stakeholders.

“Research alone cannot translate into policy. All partners and technical teams must work together, and everyone in this room must ensure we succeed as a country,” he added.

There was consensus in the room 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 regional Resiliency through Azithromycin for Children (REACH) Network and is designed to generate robust national evidence on the effectiveness of Azithromycin Mass Drug Administration (MDA) in reducing under-five mortality while monitoring antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and ensuring safety.

According to the Principal Investigator of the SARMAAN project, Prof. Oliver Ezechi of the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, the SARMAAN project represents Nigeria’s involvement in the REACH Network, an African-led initiative with Ministries of Health and international partners focused on reducing child mortality through evidence-based Azithromycin (AZM) Mass Drug Administration (MDA) in high-mortality settings.

Giving an overview progress report on SARMAAN II, Senior Project Manager at Solina, Ijeoma Mmirikwe, shared that over 13 million unique children have been reached between 2024 and 2026; nineteen rounds of Mass Drug Administration (MDA) have been successfully implemented across Adamawa, Gombe, Yobe, Bauchi, Kaduna, Kano, Jigawa, Katsina, Kebbi, and Sokoto states; and over 5.7 million bottles of Azithromycin have been distributed across the ten states. So far, no record of any serious adverse events has been reported during implementation.

Speaking at the meeting, Ikechukwu Ofuani, Project Lead of the SARMAAN Advocacy Project Team, introduced the advocacy consortium supporting national ownership, policy integration, communications, and knowledge management for the initiative.

According to Ofuani, 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 amplifying 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 strong international evidence from Niger, Tanzania, and Malawi, where similar Azithromycin interventions demonstrated up to a 13.8 per cent reduction in child mortality.

The Nigerian implementation adapts this proven approach to the local context while generating country-specific evidence and strengthening state and community ownership.