Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are a category of chronic, disabling, and at times disfiguring diseases and conditions that occur most commonly in the setting of extreme poverty.

In 2020 and 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic severely disrupted the health system and routine immunization in the African Region, leading to a significant decline in immunization coverage. It is well known that routine immunization programmes rely on functioning health facilities and stable communities.

This is the first progress report produced by the UCN Cluster, and was written to a template based on the the three core strategies of eradication, elimination and control.

While there has been real progress in addressing the burden of disease in the WHO African region, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the link between health, economics and security, as the region saw decades of progress threatened, including positive trends in decreasing inequality. In the African Region the momentum towards achieving the 2030 SDG disease burden reduction targets (SDG targets 3.3, 3.4 and 3B) has stalled.

These country disease status reports provide a succinct overview of disease profiles across countries in the WHO African region. The focus is on the status of key indicators for the eradication, elimination and control of communicable and non-communicable at national level, and how these indicators measure up against the SDG 2030 goals.

Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are a diverse group of diseases with distinct characteristics found mainly among the poorest populations of the world. These diseases share a common stranglehold on those populations left furthest behind by development: they perpetuate poverty.

The Federal Republic of Nigeria is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea to the south in the Atlantic Ocean.

This report is one of the first major products of the newly established Precision Public Health Metrics unit of the UCN cluster of the WHO Regional Office for Africa.