The achievements were highlighted at the national close-out and dissemination meeting of the OYA campaign held in Abuja, where government officials, development partners and health experts reviewed the programme's impact and discussed strategies for sustaining its gains beyond donor funding.
The initiative, implemented by Girl Effect Nigeria in partnership with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and the Federal Government, focused on increasing demand for the HPV vaccine among girls aged nine to 14 while promoting improved adolescent nutrition.
The campaign was carried out in Kaduna, Delta, Ekiti, Ondo and Oyo states, with the goal of encouraging positive attitudes towards vaccination and protecting young girls from cervical cancer, one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths among women.
Speaking at the event, Girl Effect Nigeria Country Director, Mrs. Boladale Akin-Kolapo, said the campaign adopted a multi-sectoral approach involving schools, healthcare workers, traditional institutions and digital platforms to build public trust and improve vaccine uptake.
According to her, the campaign recorded significant reach through both traditional and digital media.
She said more than 4.1 million people were engaged through digital platforms, while radio campaigns reached an estimated 18 million listeners nationwide.
Akin-Kolapo added that the programme also strengthened community-level engagement by training more than 315 teachers and healthcare workers and conducting over 7,800 community mobilisation activities, which ultimately supported the vaccination of more than 26,000 eligible girls.
Highlighting one of the key lessons from the programme, she said vaccine acceptance depends largely on public confidence.
"One of the biggest barriers to successful immunisation is public perception rather than vaccine availability," she said, stressing that building trust within communities remains essential.
With donor funding for the project coming to an end, Akin-Kolapo called on federal and state governments to integrate social and behaviour change communication into routine healthcare planning and financing to sustain demand for HPV vaccination.
She warned that future progress would rely on sustained government investment, continuous public education and deliberate efforts to tackle misinformation surrounding vaccines.
The country director also reaffirmed Girl Effect Nigeria's commitment to collaborating with the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Gavi and state governments to improve adolescent health, reduce child marriage and strengthen sexual and reproductive health programmes.
She urged policymakers to make community engagement and demand-generation strategies permanent features of Nigeria's routine immunisation system instead of treating them as short-term donor-supported interventions.
Also speaking, the Director of Disease Control and Immunisation at the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr. Garba Rufai, said Nigeria had continued to record progress in immunisation despite the growing challenge of misinformation and anti-vaccine campaigns on social media.
He urged state governments to build stronger local capacity and reduce dependence on donor-funded health interventions, noting that sustained government ownership would determine the long-term success of immunisation programmes.
Senior Programme Officer for the Country Immunisation Programme at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Dr. Aruwa Oteri, described the campaign's emphasis on social and behaviour change communication as critical to overcoming cultural barriers that often discourage vaccine acceptance.
Similarly, the World Health Organisation's representative, Dr. Chisom Emeka, commended the campaign's youth-focused and digital engagement strategies, reaffirming the organisation's continued support for Nigeria's routine immunisation efforts.
Representing the implementing states, Oyo State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Oluwaserimi Ajetunmobi, said the campaign's evidence-based approach and focus on adolescent girls had generated valuable lessons that would help shape future health policies and investments in the state.
Stakeholders at the meeting agreed that sustaining the gains recorded under the OYA campaign would require stronger government commitment, increased domestic funding, continuous community engagement and coordinated efforts to combat vaccine misinformation while expanding access to life-saving immunisation services for Nigerian children and adolescents.