Nigeria
In Nigeria one in five children will die before their fifth birthday. Nearly 2 million children have lost one or both parents to an AIDS-related disease.
- We're helping to restore healthcare services at clinics in the rural north
- We're saving lives by vaccinating children against killer diseases
- We're enabling 22,500 working children to protect themselves from harm
Save the Children in Nigeria
We established a small programme in Nigeria in 2001. Our early focus was on getting children actively involved in shaping the decisions that affect their lives.
Today, we're focusing on providing basic healthcare and protecting children from abuse and exploitation.
We're rebuilding clinics
In recent years, the Nigerian government has spent less on healthcare per person than almost any other government in Africa. Clinics are falling down, they lack even basic equipment and essential drugs and there aren't enough qualified staff to work in them.
We've refurbished clinics and are training the government health workers who will run them. We've involved the local community in each area in setting up management committees. They will work with their local authorities to make sure that everyone can get access to good quality essential healthcare. In the coming year, we will extend this work to 50 more areas.
We're saving children's lives
Fewer than half of children in Nigeria are vaccinated against common infectious diseases before their first birthday. More than half the 2,000 cases of polio reported around the world in 2006 were from Nigeria. Working with a commercial consortium within the Reviving Routine Immunisation project, our aim is to get at least 60% protected. We'll also get the local people involved to help tell everyone how important the vaccinations are and where they can get their children immunised.
We're protecting children from harm
Child labour is still widespread in Nigeria: some 15 million children are working - many of them trafficked for forced labour - in agriculture, as domestic servants, hawkers, beggars, and sex workers.
We're directly targeting 7,200 children whose lives are blighted by a combination of HIV and AIDS, exploitation, discrimination and violent conflict. We've worked with 36 communities to create Child Protection Committees comprised of men, women, boys and girls representing a diversity of backgrounds, through which children are represented in community decision-making. The groups have developed plans of action to improve children's working conditions, reduce their risk of exposure to harm, and support families to enable their children to return to school. We've also trained 120 children to be able to take a lead in giving information, to young out-of-school men and women, on life skills and sexual and reproductive health, including HIV and AIDS.
At state level, we're working with the government ministries and other partners to develop a plan of action for orphans and vulnerable children which we hope will become state policy.
Read more about our work in Nigeria by downloading the country brief [PDF 86KB]
