Nigeria has chalked up a major public health victory, with about 47.1 million citizens no longer needing treatment for lymphatic filariasis (elephantiasis) and onchocerciasis (river blindness), according to the Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Iziaq Salako.
Salako disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja at the close-out ceremony of the BLON Project, a landmark intervention that delivered the most extensive assessments ever carried out for the two diseases across 13 states.
He explained that the project was crafted to plug a gaping hole in Nigeria’s elimination roadmap for both diseases and was bankrolled with 4.9 million dollars from the Gates Foundation.
“Nigeria has exceeded its disease-control targets for these two neglected tropical diseases and conducted significantly more assessments than originally planned,” Salako said.
The minister noted that while many implementation units had already met World Health Organisation benchmarks to halt mass drug administration, they were hamstrung by inadequate resources to conduct the mandatory disease-specific assessments.
“Previous partner-led efforts were fragmented and costly, making nationwide scale-up difficult,” he added.
This hurdle, he said, birthed a strategic alliance between the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Sightsavers, Christian Blind Mission International, Helen Keller International, and MITOSATH, aimed at running a coordinated, cost-effective assessment programme nationwide.
“The initiative was aimed at generating evidence to support the cessation of mass drug administration, strengthening health systems, and introducing replicable models that enhance efficiency and sustainability,” Salako said.
Although the project kicked off in 2022 as a 17-month intervention, he revealed it was extended at no extra cost and wrapped up in September 2025 to deepen its long-term impact.
“Nigeria has delivered beyond its targets. About 31.1 million people no longer require treatment for lymphatic filariasis, while 16 million people no longer need treatment for onchocerciasis, compared to the initial target of 27 million.
“We conducted 46 Pre-TAS, 116 TAS 1 and 3 epidemiological surveys, and one breeding-site assessment. By implication, Nigeria achieved 148 per cent of LF assessments and 150 per cent of onchocerciasis assessments,” Salako said.
Beyond numbers, the project also fortified Nigeria’s health system, upgrading and building capacity in four laboratories—UniOsun, TCC Lab, NIMR Lab, and ABU Lab— which ultimately secured ISO 15189 accreditation.
“Sixty-five laboratory technicians were trained on standardised blood collection, while more than 300 personnel were trained as card readers, data recorders, and field sample collectors,” he said.
He added that staff were also trained on sample transportation using certified third-party logistics, alongside annual work-plan harmonisation meetings and filariasis transmission survey quantification.
The close-out ceremony also featured panel discussions on OV/LF assessments, Nigeria’s elimination roadmap, as well as awards recognising individuals and organisations that played key roles in delivering the project.
