The Director-General of the National Population Commission (NPC), Dr Abuh Mohammed, has urged policymakers, development partners and other stakeholders to use the findings of the 2025 Nigeria Malaria Indicator Survey (NMIS) to shape policy and improve the lives of Nigerians.
Speaking at the report’s launch in Abuja on Thursday, 22 October 2026, Dr Mohammed said the survey’s value would depend on how its findings are used to guide strategy, direct resources to areas of greatest need and strengthen efforts to eliminate malaria.
The event was organised by the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (FMoHSW), through the National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP).
Dr Mohammed, who represented the Commission, described malaria as a major public health challenge with serious consequences for health, productivity and national development. Children under five and pregnant women remain among the most affected, he said.
He commended the partnership between the Ministry, the NMEP and the NPC, saying it brought together the programme’s malaria-control expertise and the Commission’s survey infrastructure, field operations and data-management capacity.
“The National Population Commission remains committed to supporting evidence-based planning and decision-making,” he said. The Commission would continue working with government agencies, development partners and research institutions, he added, while strengthening survey operations through modern data-collection technology, geospatial databases and sound statistical methods.
The Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Ms Kachollom Daju, represented the Coordinating Minister, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, at the launch. She said malaria parasite prevalence among children aged 6–59 months had fallen from 22 per cent in 2021 to 15.2 per cent in 2025, a decline of 6.8 percentage points.
The survey covered 20,312 households. It included interviews with 23,815 women and malaria tests for 18,180 children across 693 clusters nationwide. Kebbi State recorded a notable decrease, with prevalence falling from 49 per cent in 2021 to 18 per cent in 2025.
Ms Daju cautioned that the decline did not mean malaria had been eliminated. Nigeria still carries a substantial burden, she said, and efforts must focus on communities with the greatest need.
Among households that owned insecticide-treated nets, 72.3 per cent of children and 80.6 per cent of pregnant women had slept under one, she said. She urged state governments to use their survey findings to shape malaria plans and budgets and to release funds on time.
The launch also featured the National Malaria Strategic Plan 2026–2030, which aims to halve malaria prevalence and malaria-related deaths from 2025 levels by 2030. The plan aligns with the Nigeria Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative and the Health Sector Strategic Blueprint 2023–2027.
It follows the principle of “One Plan, One Budget, One Report, One Conversation” and uses sub-national tailoring to match interventions to local evidence and needs.
The survey report and strategic plan are intended to strengthen Nigeria’s malaria response and support the goal of elimination, in line with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
