WHY NIGERIA MATTERS
Overview
As Africa's most populous nation, Nigeria plays a critical role in generating vaccine safety evidence that reflects the realities of diverse populations, health systems, and disease burdens across the continent. Recent outbreaks of Lassa fever and other infectious diseases have highlighted the importance of robust surveillance systems that can rapidly generate reliable evidence to inform public health decision-making. Through BRAVE, Nigeria is helping establish the background rates of adverse events of special interest (AESIs) needed to interpret vaccine safety signals accurately during future vaccine introductions and public health emergencies.
ABOUT IFAIN (BRAVE Project Nigeria Site Lead)
The International Foundation Against Infectious Diseases in Nigeria (IFAIN) is a leading Nigerian public health and research organisation dedicated to strengthening disease surveillance, outbreak preparedness, implementation research, and health systems resilience.
With extensive experience supporting national and international health initiatives, IFAIN brings together clinicians, epidemiologists, researchers, data scientists, and public health practitioners to generate evidence that improves health outcomes and informs policy. As BRAVE's coordinating institution in Nigeria, IFAIN provides scientific leadership, operational oversight, capacity strengthening, and coordination across participating healthcare facilities: the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital in Bauchi, Federal Medical Centre in Owo, University of Benin Teaching Hospital in Benin and Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital in Irrua.
Additional info
Rather than creating parallel systems, BRAVE activities are integrated into routine clinical workflows within participating hospitals. This approach strengthens existing health systems (infrastructure and technical know-how) while generating high-quality data that can support future vaccine safety assessments.
By May 2026:
- More than 10,000 patients had been screened
• Monthly screening activity stabilised at between 2,000-3,000 patients
• Data collection processes had been embedded within routine healthcare delivery
• Local teams had strengthened expertise in surveillance, data quality, and vaccine safety monitoring
BRAVE is supporting:
- Clinical workforce development
- Data management and quality systems
- Multi-site health surveillance coordination
- Vaccine safety monitoring expertise
- Research and implementation science capability
- Cross-country learning across the BRAVE network
Nigeria's BRAVE sites span diverse geographic regions and health contexts. Together they provide access to varied patient populations and contribute valuable evidence on how surveillance systems function across different healthcare settings. The network also supports knowledge exchange with BRAVE partners in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Kenya, Ghana and South Africa strengthening regional preparedness for future public health emergencies.
Building reliable vaccine safety surveillance systems requires sustained investment in people, partnerships, infrastructure, and data systems. Nigeria's contribution to BRAVE demonstrates how locally led research institutions can strengthen health system preparedness while generating evidence that supports vaccine safety assessment, regulatory decision-making, and public confidence in immunisation programmes. The expertise, partnerships, and surveillance capacity being developed today will continue to support public health decision-making long after individual outbreaks have passed.