(Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, May 2024 – Present)
Project Overview
Nigeria faces profound and persistent public health challenges, from high maternal and child
mortality to fragile primary healthcare infrastructure, the burden of infectious disease, and the
rising tide of non-communicable conditions. Against this backdrop, Nigeria Health Watch’s
Global Policy Advocacy Project represents a sustained, multi-pronged effort to drive systemic
change: bringing evidence to policymakers, amplifying community voices, and connecting global
best practice to local realities.
Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the project deploys a rich blend of editorial
journalism, strategic events, direct policy engagement, community accountability reporting, and
media outreach. Rather than treating communication and advocacy as separate workstreams,
the project weaves them together, so that a Community Health Watch story published in Kano
can ripple outward to influence state planning, national dialogue, and ultimately the policies that
shape millions of lives.
Impact at a Glance
Since May 2024, the Global Policy Advocacy Project has generated measurable impact across
editorial output, audience reach, policy engagement, and community accountability.
213+
Articles published across all health focus areas
56
Community Health Watch stories across 4 states
174,991
Total radio listenership from 37 radio shows
1,800+
Healthcare workers recruited through advocacy efforts
433,566
Total video views (including legacy content)
30%
Year-on-year growth in editorial production
97%
Average participant satisfaction across major policy events
59%
Increase in Community Health Watch content YoY
75%
Increase in Community Health Watch editorial views
Our Approach
The project combines four mutually reinforcing strategies, each designed to create both immediate impact and lasting systemic change.
Editorial
Nigeria Health Watch produces Torchlight investigations and Thought Leadership articles that bring expert analysis, lived experience, and data together. Published in English and targeting both a national and Africa-wide audience, these pieces move the needle on public and policymaker understanding of complex health issues. In 2024–2025, the project published over 213 articles across all priority areas, with a 30% year-on-year increase in output.
Strategic Events & Policy Convenings
From the 77th World Health Assembly in Geneva to national policy dialogues in Abuja, Nigeria Health Watch convenes the people who matter; policymakers, technical experts, civil society, and community voices; in conversations designed to
move from knowledge to action. Events have achieved up to 97% participant satisfaction and demonstrable policy uptake, including the finalisation and national rollout of the E-MOTIVE maternal health guidelines.
Community Health Watch
Community Health Watch reportersembedded in Kano, Niger, Kaduna, and Lagos document the on-the-ground reality of healthcare delivery; naming gaps, celebrating progress, and holding dutybearers to account. With 56 stories published and a 59% year-on-year increase in content production, CHW reports have directly triggered service restoration, government responses, and formal integration of community accountability into state operational planning.
Traditional & Social Media Advocacy
The project leverages the full media ecosystem; over 307 radio shows reaching nearly 175,000 listeners, television appearances, podcasts, and a growing social media presence; to amplify health
messages beyond the policy sphere and into communities. This multi-platform approach ensures that advocacy is not confined to conference rooms but reaches the people whose health outcomes the project aims to improve.
Policy & Systems Change
Advocacy is only meaningful when it translates into change. Below are some of the most
significant policy and systems-level outcomes achieved through the project.
Workforce & Remuneration
- Approximately 1,800 healthcare workers recruited through sustained advocacy directly strengthening the human resources for health at primary care level.
- Upward review of health worker remuneration achieved through policy advocacy, addressing one of the most significant drivers of health worker attrition in Nigeria.
Maternal Health Innovation at Scale
- The E-MOTIVE approach to emergency management of obstetric hemorrhage —demonstrated to reduce severe postpartum hemorrhage by 60% in a Nigerian trial — has had its guidelines finalised and is now being rolled out to subnational levels across the country.
- Nigeria’s trial data contributed to an update of WHO’s global maternal health guidelines.
PHC Infrastructure & Service Delivery
- Marmara PHC (Kano): A new paediatric ward was constructed and commissioned,
improving emergency child care access for a community that previously lacked it. - Kano Municipal Council PHCs: Facilities have moved from turning away patients due to
lack of beds to providing improved access to basic care. - Yan Dadi PHC (Kano): A facility that had fallen into long-standing neglect was revitalised
following Community Health Watch reporting. - Niger State: CHW reporting on PHC utilisation barriers directly informed the co-creation
of targeted radio messaging with government and community stakeholders.
Accountability Integrated into Government Planning
- In Kano State, community-led sensitisation and accountability activities — piloted through the project — have been formally incorporated into the State Annual Operational Plan, with government ownership transferred. This represents a model for sustainable community accountability that outlasts any individual project.