Nigeria already knows you as a patriot, a builder, and a philanthropist. This is an opportunity to be remembered also as the leader who helped end some of the diseases that have burdened the country’s poorest citizens for generations. Few opportunities combine moral clarity, national significance, and practical feasibility as powerfully as this one. The tools exist. The progress is real. What is needed now is leadership equal to the task.
A call to lead a Nigeria NTD Elimination Accelerator for lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, and trachoma.
Dear General TY Danjuma,
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In Africa, it is said that when the roots are deep, there is no reason to fear the wind. Your decades of service and quiet investment in Nigeria’s healthcare have already put down deep roots in communities that have for too long borne the weight of neglected tropical diseases alone. In that spirit of respect, this appeal is made: Nigeria does not need more speeches about neglected tropical diseases. It needs a final push to end the ones already within reach.
Today, neglected tropical diseases still blind, disable, stigmatise, and impoverish millions of Nigerians, mostly in poor and underserved communities. Nigeria accounts for about half of Africa’s NTD burden and roughly a quarter of the global burden, with more than 100 million people infected with or at risk of at least one of these diseases. That is not only a public health failure. It is a test of national resolve.
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This letter is a direct appeal to you to help lead that response by championing a 10-15-year Nigeria Neglected Tropical Diseases Elimination Accelerator Fund of $300 million to $500 million, focused first on lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, and trachoma. These are diseases for which Nigeria has some of the clearest evidences of progress, the strongest delivery platforms, and the best chance of achieving nationally significant wins within the next decade.
You are uniquely positioned to lead such an effort because you have already demonstrated what long-term commitment looks like. Since 1996, through support for MITOSATH and later through the TY Danjuma Foundation, more than 27 million treatments have been delivered in Taraba State for onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis, and lymphatic filariasis, and over 8,000 community-directed distributors have been trained in the process. That is not symbolic philanthropy. It is one of the clearest examples in Nigeria of sustained, locally rooted action against neglected tropical diseases.
Nigeria is no longer at the beginning of this fight. It is approaching the point where serious investment can move parts of the country across the finish line. Government reporting shows that more than 39.5 million people across 20 states and the FCT no longer require treatment for lymphatic filariasis. Millions have also been weaned off Ivermectin for onchocerciasis, and transmission has been interrupted or eliminated in multiple states. Regarding trachoma, Nigeria has reported that 106 of 126 endemic Local Government Areas (LGAs) ended treatment and met elimination thresholds, reducing the at-risk population from about 30 million to about 3.5 million.
The implication is clear. Nigeria does not need to invent a new strategy. It needs to properly finance the last mile. Elimination still depends on repeated treatment in hotspot LGAs, transmission assessment surveys, post-treatment surveillance, surgery for trichiasis and hydrocele, lymphedema care, disability management, community workforce support, and targeted water and sanitation improvements that prevent disease from returning. These are precisely the needs that fragmented grants and short funding cycles struggle to meet.
The strongest model would be a jointly anchored effort between the TY Danjuma Foundation and the Gates Foundation. The Gates Foundation brings technical depth, international credibility, and a proven track record of supporting Nigeria’s elimination efforts. The TY Danjuma Foundation brings something equally important: Nigerian ownership, national respect, and real experience in NTD work.
That is why Nigeria needs an accelerator fund. A 10-15year pooled vehicle of $300 million to $500 million would provide the dedicated capital needed to accelerate the elimination of lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, and trachoma, while supporting targeted hotspot strategies, where rapid gains are feasible. It should be Nigerian-led, aligned with the national NTD Master Plan, and professionally governed, with resources directed to the states and LGAs where elimination is most achievable.
The case is not only moral but also economic. An analysis by the END Fund and Deloitte estimates that eliminating Nigeria’s five most prevalent NTDs could generate about $19 billion in economic benefits through higher productivity, lower health costs, and reduced disability. This is exactly the kind of challenge in which catalytic capital can unlock public value far beyond the size of the original investment.
You should not be asked to do this alone. But you should be asked to lead it.
The strongest model would be a jointly anchored effort between the TY Danjuma Foundation and the Gates Foundation. The Gates Foundation brings technical depth, international credibility, and a proven track record of supporting Nigeria’s elimination efforts. The TY Danjuma Foundation brings something equally important: Nigerian ownership, national respect, and real experience in NTD work. Together, those two institutions could create what scattered projects cannot: a credible national platform to finish the job.
There is precedent for this kind of pooled ambition. Collaboratives such as the Partnership to Strengthen Innovation and Practice in Secondary Education (PSIPSE) demonstrated that pooled philanthropic capital can align around a measurable, multi-year social goal and achieve more than fragmented grants often do. Nigeria’s NTD challenge now requires the same level of design rigour and commitment.
… please publicly champion the creation of a 10-15 year Nigeria Neglected Tropical Diseases Elimination Accelerator Fund, with a target capitalisation of $300 million to $500 million, focused on lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, and trachoma.
The gains would be visible where they matter most: in states and LGAs where disease still shapes everyday life. In high-burden states such as Sokoto, accelerator financing could help clear trichiasis backlogs, sustain effective treatment coverage, strengthen surveillance, and support practical water and sanitation improvements that reduce the risk of resurgence. That is how a national accelerator becomes real: by turning elimination from a policy aspiration into measurable change in communities.
General Danjuma, sir, this is the moment to take a proven legacy and scale it to national impact.
The ask is simple and urgent.
First, please publicly champion the creation of a 10-15 year Nigeria Neglected Tropical Diseases Elimination Accelerator Fund, with a target capitalisation of $300 million to $500 million, focused on lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, and trachoma.
Second, please convene a high-level design roundtable promptly, including the TY Danjuma Foundation, Gates Foundation Nigeria, the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, WHO Nigeria, endemic-state leaders, technical partners, and civil society, to define the fund’s governance, priorities, state focus, and accountability structure.
Third, please provide anchor leadership through seed capital, a challenge grant, or institutional sponsorship strong enough to crowd in additional commitments from Nigerian philanthropies, corporations, and international partners.
Nigeria already knows you as a patriot, a builder, and a philanthropist. This is an opportunity to be remembered also as the leader who helped end some of the diseases that have burdened the country’s poorest citizens for generations. Few opportunities combine moral clarity, national significance, and practical feasibility as powerfully as this one. The tools exist. The progress is real. What is needed now is leadership equal to the task.
Respectfully,
Dayo Olaide, Co-Founder, IdeaPlus Consult/Foundation, [email protected]
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Gates Foundation Nigeria, Abuja Office.
WHO Country Representative and Head of Mission, WHO Nigeria.
Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Federal Republic of Nigeria.
