By Modupe Gbadeyanka

The federal government has urged global investors and innovators to tap into the Nigerian healthcare ecosystem, which is projected to grow by 7.1 per cent, reaching a market value of $161.7 million by 2027.

This advice was given by the Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Mr Isiaq Salako, at the opening of the World Health Expo (WHX in Lagos 2026), formerly known as Medic West Africa, on Tuesday in Lagos.

The broader West African market is expected to reach more than $11 billion, providing investors with an opportunity to get a good return on investment.

“Nigeria is open for healthcare investment. We want platforms like WHX in Lagos to serve as a critical conduit for translating this investment ambition into tangible technology access for our hospitals and patients,” the Minister, who declared the event open on behalf of President Bola Tinubu, said.

He praised the organisers of the expo, which welcomed over 8,000 healthcare professionals and 500 exhibitors spanning 40 countries, for growing the programme into a vital catalyst for West African healthcare transformation.

Addressing the stark reality that between 85 per cent and 99 per cent of medical equipment and in vitro diagnostics in West Africa are currently imported, Mr Salako outlined aggressive federal interventions designed to dismantle supply chain vulnerabilities and skyrocket local manufacturing capabilities.

He also spotlighted key presidential directives, including the Presidential Initiative to Unlock Healthcare Value Chains (PVAC) and the Presidential Executive Order for the Pharmaceutical and Allied Sectors, both engineered to catalyse health security, drive economic growth, and generate employment through strategic private-sector collaborations and Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs).

“Our commitment to improving access to modern equipment and technologies in hospitals is backed by concrete action. The government has inaugurated the $1.2 billion Sector-Wide Approach (SWAP) initiative, a comprehensive overhaul addressing financing, workforce development, and infrastructure.

“Furthermore, for the 2025 fiscal year, the Federal Government committed N402 billion specifically for health sector infrastructure investment,” he stated, also highlighting an expansive health infrastructure upgrade program in partnership with the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA).

According to him, this phased initiative is actively delivering oncology and nuclear medicine centres across six tertiary hospitals, alongside establishing 22 modern medical diagnostic centres, seven cardiac catheterisation laboratories, and expanded radiology and clinical pathology capabilities distributed across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones.

Also speaking, the chief executive of EHA Clinics, Dr Ifunanya Ilodibe, stressed the urgent need to support and unify fragmented growth within the healthcare system, noting that WHX serves as the precise ecosystem platform required to bring together policymakers, clinicians, and investors to move actionable strategies forward.

Also, the President of the Healthcare Federation of Nigeria (HFN) and Country Director of PharmAccess, Njide Ndili, said, “HFN bridges the gaps in health financing, opening up critical connections to achieve true health sovereignty,” praising Africa CDC’s historical intervention, particularly during the Ebola crisis and urged participants to utilise the WHX exhibition floor to forge collaborations capable of scaling locally produced medical equipment.

The Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Mr Akin Abayomi, on his part, highlighted the enforcement of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) Act in Lagos State as a landmark regulatory milestone. The Act mandates health insurance for all residents, structuring the financial environment to guarantee medical protection across various socioeconomic levels.

Delivering the keynote address, the Special Regional Representative of the Director General of the Africa CDC Western Regional Coordinating Centre, Prof. Aliko Ahmed, called on leaders in geopolitical positions to enact liberating trade policies aligned with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to shape the continental agenda, emphasising that the Africa CDC will fiercely prioritise building trust in locally manufactured healthcare products.

WHX in Lagos 2026 runs for three days, featuring accredited forums, cutting-edge product showcases, and high-level networking tracks designed to translate billions in public and private investment into immediate technology access for hospitals and patients.

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

About $50 million has been promised by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, through its First Response Fund (FRF), to support the response to the ongoing Bundibugyo ebolavirus outbreak.

A statement from the organisation made available to Business Post on Monday said up to $40 million would be available to enable accelerated access to investigational doses and, eventually, approved vaccines, while a further $10 million would support outbreak response and protection of routine immunisation services in impacted countries.

“We need to act now to ensure that, once one or more vaccine candidates are ready, manufacturers are in a position to start producing doses at scale,” the chief executive of Gavi, Dr Sania Nishtar, was quoted as saying.

“Leveraging this allocation, Gavi will work closely with CEPI and partners to design the right incentives to achieve this goal, exploring all options, including potential Advance Purchase Commitments.

“This effort, alongside ensuring emergency funds are on hand to support outbreak response and protect routine immunisation services in the communities impacted, is exactly what our First Response Fund was designed for,” Dr Nishtar added.

The First Response Fund is the only globally approved mechanism that allows “at-risk” financing for scaled-up production of vaccines under development. This means Gavi is able to make vital early investments even when development outcomes are uncertain.

The $40 million in immediate surge financing that has been approved today will enable manufacturers of the leading candidates of a vaccine against the Bundibugyo virus to directly commit to high-capacity manufacturing.

This, in turn, will ensure that, as soon as clinical trials demonstrate positive outcomes, investigational vaccine doses could be deployed rapidly to support outbreak response.

Looking to the longer-term, Gavi will also provide incentives for manufacturers to adopt the fastest pathways towards WHO Emergency Use Listing (EUL) and/or WHO Prequalification (PQ), which are critical global approvals that will enable the rapid use of these vaccines in future emergencies.

In the coming weeks, Gavi will finalise the design of a financial mechanism that leverages the $40 million FRF allocation to achieve these vaccine access goals, in close partnership with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) as well as WHO, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and UNICEF.

The final design will take into account the characteristics of individual vaccine candidates and the needs of their manufacturers and may include mechanisms such as Advance Purchase Commitments. Work will also be undertaken to ensure successful candidates from African-based vaccine manufacturers can benefit from accelerated support through Gavi’s African Vaccine Manufacturing Accelerator (AVMA) initiative.

In addition to these investments, Gavi will also immediately release US$ 10 million to support countries and partners with outbreak response.

This funding will support implementation of national outbreak response plans, including targeted investments to protect routine immunisation, protect health care workers and ensure readiness for future vaccines. Gavi will work closely with countries, partners including Africa CDC, WHO, UNICEF, World Bank, and donors to ensure these investments complement other efforts.

By Adedapo Adesanya

Nigeria is considering flight restrictions and tighter border surveillance to prevent Ebola outbreaks from spreading from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Uganda, and South Sudan into the country.

The move was discussed during a high-level strategic meeting held in Lagos on Thursday, where top government officials reviewed Nigeria’s Ebola preparedness and response framework amid growing concerns over outbreaks in parts of Africa.

Among those present at the meeting were Mr Jide Idris, Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC); Mr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, Minister of Interior; Mr Femi Gbajabiamila, Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu; and Mr Akin Abayomi, Lagos State Commissioner for Health.

Speaking after the meeting, Mr Gbajabiamila said President Tinubu had been fully briefed on the situation in the affected countries and assured Nigerians that the federal government would take all necessary steps to prevent any outbreak in Nigeria.

“We have a health scare, which is Ebola, and we all know what happened the last time. The cases are getting worse, internationally and worldwide, and we don’t want to leave anything to chance,” Mr Gbajabiamila said.

He explained that several preventive measures were being considered by the government, including restricting flights from countries affected by the outbreak.

“There were three or four areas we looked at. We looked at the issue of the possibility, as of now, of restricting flights from countries of interest. We looked at the possibilities of isolating passengers who may exhibit symptoms of Ebola,” he said.

“We looked at the possibility of isolating or using the cargo terminal to deal with passengers that are coming in from those areas, and of course, putting certain things in place, protocols in place; we believe that prevention is better than cure, and where some passengers slip through the cracks, then we must have ways of dealing with situations such as that.”

On his part, Mr Tunji-Ojo said the government had already directed that all entry points into Nigeria be placed under strict surveillance.

According to him, the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) would collaborate closely with the NCDC to strengthen early detection and rapid response mechanisms.

The NCDC Director-General also disclosed that preparedness plans had been activated across the 36 states of the federation, while public awareness campaigns would be intensified to educate citizens on preventive measures and response protocols.

The renewed alert comes years after the devastating 2013–2016 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, regarded as the deadliest in history, which claimed more than 4,500 lives across the region.