YOBE, Nigeria – Yobe and Benue states have pledged to increase domestic funding and strengthen community-level interventions to tackle neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), as declining external support threatens the sustainability of control and elimination programmes.
The commitment was made on Thursday at the 2026 Annual High-Level Advocacy Meeting on NTDs in Abuja, which focused on translating government commitments into budgetary action.
Permanent Secretary of the Yobe State Ministry of Health and Human Services, Hadiza Sabo, said the state was working to incorporate NTD interventions into its planning and budgeting processes. “We will create a budget line that will speak for the NTDs,” she said.
Sabo said the government would also engage local government chairmen and other stakeholders to ensure interventions reached communities affected by the diseases.
She emphasised the need for stronger collaboration among health, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), education and local government authorities, noting that tackling the conditions that facilitate NTD transmission required coordinated action across sectors.
According to her, Yobe would integrate NTD interventions into existing programmes rather than implement them as separate activities.
Similarly, Benue State Commissioner for Health and Human Services, Dr Paul Ogwuche, said shrinking donor support made increased government investment necessary to sustain NTD programmes. “The landscape is changing, the external fundings is reducing, and as a responsible government, we need to come together like this to chart a way out,” he said.
Ogwuche identified leprosy, lymphatic filariasis and snakebite as conditions affecting vulnerable populations, particularly people in rural communities. He described Benue as one of Nigeria’s high-burden states for snakebite, warning that the condition could lead to severe complications and long-term health consequences.
The commissioner said the meeting offered states an opportunity to explore sustainable financing arrangements and strengthen efforts towards achieving the 2030 NTD elimination targets.
The two-day meeting, which began on Wednesday, brought together state health officials and other stakeholders to discuss domestic financing and programme implementation. Participants also called for dedicated NTD budget lines in states’ 2027 health budgets, improved expenditure tracking and stronger coordination among relevant sectors.
NTDs are a group of diseases and conditions that disproportionately affect impoverished communities, particularly those with limited access to safe water, sanitation and healthcare
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