The Federal Government has reaffirmed its commitment to dismantling harmful gender norms and strengthening adolescent health systems, calling for policies and funding that translate into tangible results for young Nigerians.
This was stated by the Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Iziaq Adekunle Salako, at the Gender and Inclusion Summit 2026 and National Dialogue on Transforming Gender Norms for Adolescent Health and Wellbeing, held on Wednesday in Abuja.
Salako said cultural expectations that promote inequality continue to limit adolescents’ options and expose them to violence, premature pregnancies and poor health outcomes.
According to the minister, the Federal Ministry of Health and Welfare was already strengthening adolescent health through policies and partnerships including the institutionalization of health programs for adolescents and schoolchildren and the establishment of a budget line dedicated to adolescent health in the national budget.
Salako added that the National Sexual and Reproductive Health Policy 2025-2030 will expand access to information and services such as family planning, STI/HIV prevention and counselling, and also cited the national HPV vaccination campaign, which has reached more than 14 million girls aged 9 to 14, and the Nigeria Survey on Gender Norms, Attitudes, Health and Wellbeing, aimed at generating data for policy and programming.
He urged stakeholders to adopt gender-transformative approaches, strengthen multi-sector partnerships, translate evidence into policies and budgets, and build accountability structures that amplify youth voices.
“Therefore, transforming gender norms is important because it breaks rigid rules that limit access to health care, security, education and the ability to earn a decent living. Let this dialogue be more than a conversation. Let it be a catalyst for change,” Salako said.
Also speaking, Deputy Director of Policy, Advocacy and Communications at the Gates Foundation Nigeria Country Office, Ekenem Isichei, said innovation must be measured by its impact on the last mile.
He said the last mile refers to people affected by gaps between policy, funding and service delivery, and called for greater investment in primary health care, ownership by communities and local governments and stronger referral systems.
Isichei added that strengthening level two facilities and moving innovations from the pilot stage to government-funded programs will help reduce maternal mortality and ensure that adolescents get the services they need.
He also stated that the true measure of development should be its impact on people, especially women, youth, people with disabilities and underserved communities, arguing that the last mile should no longer be seen only as a remote place but as the individual who cannot benefit from a policy despite its existence.
“A woman who arrives at a primary health care center only to find an absent health worker, an essential product out of stock or a dysfunctional referral system does not experience an ‘implementation bottleneck’. She experiences the absence of a service. The true test of innovation is not that it exists. It is whether people can use it, trust it and benefit from it,” Isichei said.
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