Stakeholders in child health are calling for the sustainability and institutionalisation of the Safety and Antimicrobial Resistance of Mass Administration of Azithromycin Among Children (SARMAAN) Project as a national priority for child survival.
The call came as the country celebrates the Day of the African Child, observed annually on 16 June. The day serves as a reminder of Africa’s collective
This year’s commemoration presents an opportunity to reflect not only on the challenges facing children across the continent but also on proven interventions that can save lives and improve health outcomes.
In Nigeria, the SARMAAN Project has emerged as one of the country’s most significant child-survival initiatives, generating evidence on the safe administration of azithromycin while supporting efforts to reduce preventable illnesses and deaths among children under 5 years of age.
Implemented through a partnership involving the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR), a consortium of implementers, government institutions, development partners, advocacy and communication partners, and state-level stakeholders, the project has already reached over 16 million children across 11 participating northern states.
Project Lead, SARMAAN Advocacy Project Team, Ikechukwu Ofuani, stated that the SARMAAN Project has demonstrated how evidence-based interventions can significantly reduce preventable childhood illnesses and deaths among children under five years of age.
Based on his extensive discussions with policymakers, health institutions, development partners, and community members across Nigeria, he noted that SARMAAN has grown beyond a single project and should now be seen as an important national effort to improve child survival.
According to Ofuani, institutionalising SARMAAN will help safeguard the gains already recorded while creating opportunities to expand its impact and embed its approach within Nigeria’s health system for the long-term benefit of children.
Emphasising the importance of institutionalising SARMAAN as a national child survival priority, the principal at Solina Centre for International Development and Research (SCIDaR), Demilade Oseteku, stated that the project has demonstrated a practical, scalable, and high-impact pathway for improving child survival outcomes in Nigeria, particularly in underserved and hard-to-reach communities.
According to Oseteku, SARMAAN extends beyond the administration of medicine to strengthening the critical systems needed to reach vulnerable children consistently.
