A Blueprint for Community Health: Niger State’s Integrated Approach to Disease Prevention
In a move to improve public health, Nigeria’s Niger State Ministry of Health (Niger SMOH) recently integrated health interventions for malaria and neglected tropical diseases, during annual mass drug administration (MDA) campaigns for river blindness (also known as onchocerciasis) and lymphatic filariasis (LF). This approach allowed Niger State to address several health needs amongst communities during one interaction.
“This was a government-led initiative to ensure timely intervention and reduce health workers' workload,” said Dr. Ibrahim Idris, Director of Public Health for Niger State. “We aimed to minimize community interruptions with multiple interventions while maximizing resources.”
Led by the Niger SMOH, with support from the local organization MITOSATH and USAID’s Act to End Neglected Tropical Diseases | East (Act | East) program, the initiative equipped more than 1,200 health workers with knowledge about river blindness, LF, yaws, malaria prevention, snakebite envenoming, and seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC). These health workers then trained more than 9,600 community drug distributors (CDDs) who traveled door-to-door to administer NTD and malaria medications to eligible populations, conduct surveys for yaws, and provide health education.
“By combining MDA for onchocerciasis and lymphatic filariasis with other interventions, such as yaws mapping and malaria prevention, Niger State was able to efficiently deliver essential health services to a wider population,” added Dr. Francisca Olamiju, Executive Director of MITOSATH.
Children four years of age and younger received antimalaria treatment, while those five years of age or older received medicines for river blindness and LF. In addition to administering medication, the CDDs were trained to recognize yaws – several suspected cases of yaws were identified, and those individuals were referred to health facilities for confirmation. Overall, the integrated campaign reached more than 4 million people.
As the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare rolls out a national strategy to coordinate the health sector at all levels and improve efficiency and quality of health, integrated efforts such as the campaign Niger State implemented demonstrate a pathway for this coordination.
This wasn’t just a one-time opportunity, either. To ensure the sustainability of the integrated approach, Niger State plans to continue capacity building for health workers, strengthen community engagement, and leverage partnerships with organizations like MITOSATH for ongoing support and monitoring.
“This integrated approach to healthcare delivery offers potential for scalability and replicability across Nigeria”, said Olamiju. “Other states can leverage infrastructure, such as health facilities and community health workers, and optimize resource allocation.” To sustain the delivery of NTD services, these collaborative integration opportunities are key to ensure local governments can meet all the health needs of the population.
MITOSATH is a local, women-owned, organization in Nigeria, which received funding towards the elimination of onchocerciasis and lymphatic filariasis through USAID’s Act to End NTDs | East program. This intervention demonstrates the impact that locally led solutions can play in developing a blueprint for community health in Nigeria.