SIHI Nigeria at Nnamdi Azikiwe University

Nnamdi Azikiwe University: Our mission is to use teaching, research and public service to solve societal problems in Nigeria.

Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka Nigeria, is one of the federal universities overseen and accredited by the National Universities Commission. The mission of Nnamdi Azikiwe University is to use teaching, research and public service to solve societal problems in Nigeria. The University is regarded as a community-based university and hence has linkages with various stakeholders e.g. policymakers in the state where it is located. The university has a keen interest in social entrepreneurship, and is involved in small scale industrial capacity building. Even though social innovation is still at a nascent stage, there is strong interest in engaging both students and staff in social innovation to address health care delivery issues.

OUR ACTIVITIES

Innovation identification call

Following the 2025 National Open Call conducted with the Federal Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology (FMIST), SIHI Nigeria completed site visits to the six shortlisted innovations in May 2026. The visits allowed the team to interact directly with innovators, communities and beneficiaries, and to better understand how the innovations are addressing local health challenges. Findings from the visits will guide the final selection process and help identify innovations with strong potential for growth, sustainability and wider impact.

Case study research

SIHI Nigeria continued to document and share evidence on social innovations in health. During the quarter, one of the hub’s case studies was published, adding to the growing evidence base on community-led solutions in Nigeria. In addition, our abstract, “Applying a Gender Lens to Community-Based Maternal and Child Health Innovations in Nigeria,” was accepted for oral presentation at the TUFH 2026 Conference in the Philippines. This provides an opportunity to share lessons from Nigeria with a global audience.

Fostering Partnerships

A major highlight of the quarter was SIHI Nigeria’s participation in the WHO/TDR Joint Coordinating Board meeting held in Geneva on 17–18 June 2026. The hub presented its work on advancing Universal Health Coverage through Social Innovation in Nigeria, marking its first major global showcase. The presentation, delivered alongside the TY Danjuma Foundation, sparked interest in how partnerships can support the growth and sustainability of social innovations. During the quarter, SIHI Nigeria also launched advertisements for its Pioneer Certificate Programme in Social Innovation in Health, an important step towards institutionalising social innovation within Nnamdi Azikiwe University and strengthening capacity for innovators in Nigeria.

Events

SIHI Nigeria Hub in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation organized a virtual café with the theme of “Innovations to improve access to healthcare for young people in Nigeria”. The programme featured presentations from three social innovators, two of whom were identified by the Hub. It also featured a breakroom session for participants and at the end, all participants presented some potential barriers and possible strategies to resolve perceived problems regarding the theme of the programme.

SOCIAL INNOVATIONS IN HEALTH IN NIGERIA

Ukana West 2 Community-Based Health Initiative

ABOUT US

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Obioma is a professor of Public Health Parasitology and Epidemiology at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University. She is a Takemi fellow of the Harvard School of Public Health, and a Global Health Leadership Fellow Roll Back Malaria, WHO Geneva (1999-2001). She is both a principal investigator in ten TDR/WHO supported Research Projects, and Co-investigator in two in the area of communicable diseases. She has served as a member of several national committees on communicable diseases, including being a member of National anti-malaria drug policy implementation, and member of the Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) Steering committee from inception until 2018. She is a fellow Nigerian Academy of Science and a member WHO/TDR Research Strengthening Group (RSG) 2010. She has successfully supervised over 40 MSc and PhD students. She is also an Executive Director for a nongovernmental organization in Nigeria – Global Health Awareness Research Foundation (GHARF).

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Obinna is a pharmacist and a public health scientist. He is a senior lecturer in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacy Management, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Nigeria. He coordinates the Research Group for Evidence-Based Health Care at Nnamdi Azikiwe University (www.ebhc-unizik.com) and the Grant Development and Maintenance Office at Nnamdi Azikiwe University. His research interests are pharmacoeconomics, evidence-based public health and clinical trials. He applies these research methods to generate evidence to aid health care decisions in Nigeria and Africa at large. His researches are focused mainly on neglected tropical diseases, HIV and malaria. He has 32 publications in international peer-reviewed scientific journals. He has won a number of grants, including the Georg Forster Research Fellowship (Alexander von Humboldt Foundation) and European and Developing Countries Clinical Trial Partnership (EDCTP) Career Development Fellowship.

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Chinyelu specialised in Public Health Parasitology and Epidemiology, and is the Associate Dean (Science) of School of Postgraduate Studies. She is a member and current national secretary of Parasitology and Public Health Society of Nigeria. She is also a member of the International Society for Infectious Disease. Her research interests include urinary schistosomiasis, malaria, onchocerciasis and geohelminthes. She participated in the monitoring of community-directed treatment with Ivermectin in Anambra state APOC in 2009. Chinyelu was the Coordinator Anambra State Raploa (Loa loa) survey in South-East Nigeria, supported by the Carter Center in April 2015. She was a facilitator during the development of Minimum Service Package and Regulations for Primary Health Care Delivery in three states (Imo, Anambra, and the Abia States) of Nigeria in 2017 funded by UNICEF.

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Dr C.U. is a lecturer of Paediatrics in Nnamdi Azikiwe University with a special interest in paediatric infectious diseases, particularly paediatric HIV and tuberculosis. She is currently the focal person for paediatric HIV care in Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital (NAUTH) Nnewi. For close to ten years, she has diligently contributed to improving the outcomes of children infected or affected by HIV and tuberculosis through researches, clinical services, and building the capacity of resident doctors, medical officers, and other cadres of healthcare workers. She actively participates in Anambra State Paediatric HIV Technical Working Group and Nigeria National Stakeholders on paediatric HIV activities from 2012 until present. In collaboration with relevant NGOs and State Ministry of Health, she conducts quarterly paediatric HIV on-site clinical mentoring and supportive supervision of primary and secondary level health facilities in Anambra state. In 2014, she participated in the nationwide survey on paediatric HIV data-driven planning, the findings of which informed the development of the 2016-2018 National Acceleration Plan for Paediatric HIV treatment and care, which she is currently participating in reviewing.

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Chinyere Stella is a Professor of Mass Communication at Nnamdi Azikiwe who specializes in development communications and behaviour change communication. She is serving as a Behaviour Change Communication Consultant to numerous national and international organisations, including UNICEF, DFID, FHI, UNESCO etc. She served as an Honorable Commissioner in the State Government from 2006 to 2014 in the area of economic planning and budget, good governance and MDGs implementation. She is a fellow Nigeria Guild of Editors (NGE) among others.

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Kingsley is a Sociology/Anthropology lecturer in UNIZIK, in the Faculty of Social Sciences. He is completing his PhD research project. He has been involved in several capacity strengthening workshops for Education Data, Research Evaluation in Nigeria (DFID-EDO REN), among others.

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Benedicta is a lecturer in the Department of Zoology of Nnamdi Azikiwe University. Presently, she is the Principal Investigator in an AFRO/TDR/EDCTP small grants scheme. The small grant is for implementation research on communal sustainability of mass administration of medicines for control of schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminthiasis in Anambra State.