BY: DEBORAH ADEEN DOOEMBER, SEPTEMBER 21, 2026/ 10:50PM ----------

Around Mairi, where the busy roads of Jere Local Government Area meet the edges of Maiduguri, Hauwa Alhaji Zakariya once turned vaccinators away.

A 35-year-old cap maker and mother of five, she had raised her children according to the traditions she knew.

Only one of them had completed the government's routine immunisation schedule. Then tragedy struck. She lost a child to a vaccine-preventable disease.

The grief transformed her.

Today, Hauwa walks the streets and compounds of Mairi as a vocal advocate, urging other mothers to accept the drops and injections that protect against polio, measles, diphtheria and more.

Her story mirrors the larger struggle in Borno State

For more than a decade, the epicentre of Nigeria's insurgency has been a battleground for childhood vaccination, fighting against insecurity, displacement, climate shocks and lingering mistrust.

Yet a combination of scientific expertise, resilient infrastructure and determined community engagement is beginning to close the gaps, even in communities like Mairi.

For years, Borno lagged far behind the rest of the country.

Data from the Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey 2023, cited by UNICEF, showed that only 28.5 per cent of children in the state were fully vaccinated with basic antigens. About 21.2 per cent had received no vaccines at all.

Eight local government areas, including Maiduguri Metropolitan Council and neighbouring Jere where Mairi is located, were classified as zero-dose hotspots - areas where children have not received a single vaccine.

In 2024, UNICEF's then Chief of Maiduguri Field Office, Dr. Gerida Birukila, raised the alarm that roughly 71.5 per cent of children still needed full protection against polio.

Conflict fragmented access.

Armed groups restricted movement, health facilities were damaged or abandoned, and families fled to overcrowded camps where disease spreads easily. Then came another blow.

In September 2024, after the Alau Dam collapsed, nearly 70 per cent of Maiduguri was submerged. The state's central cold chain store was flooded, destroying close to one million vaccine doses and critical cold chain equipment.

Immunisation services for 7.5 million people across 27 local government areas were suddenly at risk.

The consequence has been predictable.

Measles, diphtheria and circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus have continued to flare in northern Nigeria.

In 2026, outbreaks of diphtheria and measles still claimed lives, disproportionately affecting unvaccinated or under-vaccinated children in the North-East.

It is here that science from within Maiduguri itself is playing a critical role.

At the University of Maiduguri's Faculty of Pharmacy, the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology has contributed to understanding the safety, mechanisms and public-health importance of vaccines. Lecturers and researchers in the department, including Ishaku Sani, examine how vaccines stimulate the immune system, how adverse events following immunisation are monitored, and the toxicological considerations that help maintain public confidence in vaccination programmes.

The science is clear: vaccines remain one of the most effective public health tools ever developed.

High coverage creates herd immunity that protects even those who cannot be vaccinated. When coverage falls, as it has in parts of Borno including areas around Mairi, viruses find space to return or mutate.

Pharmacological insights into vaccine safety and proper storage further reinforce the need for reliable cold-chain systems and community education to counter myths about side effects or infertility.

UNICEF Health Specialist, Dr. Hassan Malgwi, has repeatedly underscored this link. During World Immunisation Week events in Maiduguri, he pointed to the preventable nature of polio and measles and stressed the need for both routine services and campaign catch-ups to reach the target of 85 per cent coverage of children under six.

That resilience was rebuilt in February 2026, when the Federal Government and UNICEF commissioned a new, climate-resilient central cold chain store in Maiduguri. Costing approximately $406,000 and funded by the governments of Germany and Canada, the facility features a 64kVA solar power system, improved storage capacity for nearly one million doses, and flood-resistant design.

UNICEF Chief of Maiduguri Field Office, Francis Butichi, described the investment as transforming the site into 'a stronger and more resilient hub for immunisation delivery.'

He noted that the loss of vaccines in 2024 had threatened services statewide and that the new store would support routine immunisation, outbreak response and efforts to reach hard-to-reach populations, including communities such as Mairi.

But infrastructure alone was not enough.

Community strategies proved equally vital.

In 2025, UNICEF and the Borno State government launched the Adopt-A-PHC Naija Challenge. Thirty trained youth advocates were paired with ten primary healthcare centres in Maiduguri Metropolitan Council and Jere, including facilities serving Mairi.

Through house-to-house visits, radio messages and digital storytelling, they engaged more than 11,900 caregivers and reached hundreds of thousands of people, systematically addressing myths about infertility, safety and religious concerns.

The result was a 44 per cent increase in routine immunisation uptake among zero-dose children in the targeted areas, well above the project's 25 per cent goal.

Religious and traditional leaders also played a pivotal role.

Across Borno, including in communities near Mairi, leaders opened spaces for dialogue and helped frame vaccination as compatible with faith and as a child's right, contributing to stronger local participation during the 2025-2026 national measles, rubella and polio campaigns.

By May 2026, UNICEF reported supporting the immunisation of 1.6 million children in Borno against polio and other diseases, with more than 229,000 fully immunised across 19 local government areas as part of efforts toward the 85 per cent target.

Integrated campaigns have delivered multiple antigens at once, often alongside nutrition support and other essential services.

Progress remains uneven. Insecurity still limits access in some local government areas. Climate events continue to threaten infrastructure. Misinformation persists, and funding gaps for humanitarian work in the North-East remain significant.

Yet the combination of pharmacological and toxicological expertise from the University of Maiduguri, solar-powered cold chains, youth mobilizers, religious endorsement and the quiet determination of mothers like Hauwa in Mairi is steadily raising the protective shield around Borno's children.

Ishaku Sani and colleagues in the department of pharmacology and toxicology continue their academic and research contributions to vaccine safety and public understanding.

Francis Butichi and his team at UNICEF keep pressing for last-mile delivery and sustained investment.

Health workers and volunteers move through the compounds and clinics around Mairi with coolers of vaccines. And Hauwa keeps talking to other mothers, turning personal loss into collective protection.

In a place defined for years by disruption, the science of vaccines backed by community trust and resilient systems is writing a different story: one in which fewer children around Mairi and across Borno are left unprotected, and more grow up free from diseases that should no longer claim them.