Firm Partners Govt To Advance Community-led Health Equity

ACE Strategy and Consults, a mission-driven public health management consulting organisation,  is collaborating with state governments to drive community-led health interventions aimed at closing equity gaps and strengthening Nigeria’s health system.

At a press briefing in Abuja, ACE managing partner, Afeez Olajire, said the outfit was designed to work with, through and for government institutions, rather than operate parallel systems that weaken state ownership.

“Our model is simple: we work ourselves out of the job. The goal is not to make states dependent on us, but to strengthen their systems so they can sustainably deliver results long after we leave,” Olajire said.

Olajire explained that ACE’s interventions are largely community-based, recognising that health outcomes improve when programmes are designed around local realities and trusted structures. The organisation works closely with traditional, religious and community gatekeepers, aligning state-level priorities with grassroots engagement, he added.

Olajire said ACE conducts detailed landscape assessments in each state to identify the most influential actors, ensuring health messages are delivered by voices communities already trust.

“Equity is not about sharing resources equally, but deploying them based on need. A one-size-fits-all approach only wastes resources,” he said.

Speaking further, he stated that one of ACE’s flagship government-supported initiatives is its edutainment model for vaccine uptake, which combines entertainment with public health education. Implemented in 11 high-risk northern states and over 200 wards, ACE data revealed that the strategy contributed to the vaccination of 349,319 children in 2025, and more than 577,000 children between 2024 and 2025.

The approach uses local languages, community jingles, documentaries of polio survivors and mobile outreach to counter misinformation and improve trust in immunisation campaigns, he explained.

Olajire said ACE also supports government immunisation and primary healthcare systems through digital innovation. According to the organisation, In 2025, it enumerated over 683,000 children across more than 555,000 households, identifying thousands of missed children due to poor documentation in state registries. Updated GIS-based microplanning tools are now being used to strengthen routine immunisation and polio campaigns, he explained.

In Kano State, the organisation said it supervised over 1,000 drug delivery teams, reaching nearly 500,000 children under five during azithromycin mass drug administration campaigns.

Beyond immunisation, ACE said it partnered with development partners and government to support innovations aimed at reducing maternal deaths from postpartum haemorrhage and to strengthen frontline health worker capacity through on-the-job mentoring and independent supervision.

From an initial footprint in 10 states, ACE said it now operates in over 31 states, with community-level presence and state-based staff embedded in government systems. Olajire said this approach builds trust, improves coordination and ensures continuity.

“When Kano State shared our work on its official platforms, that showed the system is taking ownership,” he said.

With donor funding declining, Olajire stressed the need for government to continue creating enabling policies and adopting equitable resource allocation guided by data.

The organisation said it will continue documenting and openly sharing its models through playbooks and case studies to enable replication across states.