The Federal Government has said plans were underway to fully integrate oral health, including Noma treatment into Primary Healthcare such that primary health centres provide full complement of treatment and referrals when necessary.
Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Iziaq Salako gave the hint while speaking at the commemoration of 2025 National Oral Health Week, Noma Awareness Day and Scientific Workshop held in Abuja on Tuesday.
Dr. Salako stated that, “the Federal Ministry of Health is working assiduously to ensure that oral health is fully integrated into Primary Health care such that primary health centres provides full complement of primary including oral hygiene education, counselling, essential diagnostics, flouride treatment, restorarive services and referrals when necessary”.
He said the reorganization and expansion of the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) was ensuring that more funds would be made available to access oral health services especially for vulnerable population.
“Dental facilities would be up graded and equipped, to enhance oral health care quality. More Dental professionals will be employed to provide services at these PHCs.
“The Ministry has also embarked on training of primary health workers, Community health workers, and traditional birth attendants on early identification, treatment and referral of common oral diseases. This approach is helping to reduce stigmatization, raising awareness about oral health, and ensuring early identification of noma, cleft lips or palates for appropriate referral to comprehensive treatment often provided free.
“Our commitment is to ensure that Nigerians have access to appropriate oral health services as part of the our universal health coverage agenda. We will continue to train and engage more professionals and ensure that all dental professionals; dental surgeons, therapists, dental technicians, technologists, and assistants are given the opportunity to play their part”, he said.
The Minister disclosed that priority attention was also being given to professional development and on the job training including participation in international conferences to engage with the global dental community as part of the government’s oral health improvement strategy and in line with the Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative.
“The lessons learnt from these exposure is expected to contribute to Nigeria oral health development and policy enactment in areas such as environmental impact of dentistry, sugar reduction and dentistry”, he noted.
On his part, Chairman of Noma Aid Nigeria Initiative (NANI), Mathis Winkler noted that the first step in eliminating Noma from Nigeria was to create awareness about the disease and also an environment where the risk factors are eliminated.
Winkler noted that Nigeria was taken steps in the right direction to eliminate Noma:
“We just started, as we learned today also from the Permanent Secretary, we are just starting to discover which parts of Nigeria are affected by the disease.
“So far the focus has been on the northwest and we are realizing that it’s not just the northwest but also the northeast and other parts, even southern states, where we find NOMA cases”, he said.
Head of the Noma Centre at the National Hospital in Abuja, Dr. Charles Ononiwu said the center had done a total of 237 surgeries in two years. He informed that the treatment which costs approximately 5 million naira was done free of charge and often accompanied with financial empowerment for patients’ families.
Meanwhile, Country Representative for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Ahmed Aldikhari said MSF was proud of its long-standing collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Health in Sokoto State at the Noma Children’s Hospital.
“Since 2014, we have worked hand in hand to deliver comprehensive care—from inpatient treatment for acute noma and major facial reconstructive surgeries to oral physiotherapy, health promotion, community engagement, nutrition support, and mental health and psychosocial services.
“Over the past decade, these joint efforts have enabled more than 1,600 major reconstructive surgeries for 1,074 patients through 33 surgical missions. In 2025 alone, 99 surgeries were performed for 89 patients. Equally important, capacity building remains central to our mission: 28 national surgeons and 14 anesthetists have been trained by international specialists, strengthening Nigeria’s long-term ability to provide quality care for noma patients.
“A major milestone in our collective work was the inclusion of noma in the WHO list of Neglected Tropical Diseases—a result of strong global advocacy led jointly by the Nigerian government and MSF. Nigeria is now well positioned to transform this recognition into real progress through strengthened prevention, improved surveillance, and expanded access to treatment.
“I encourage all participants to use this conference as a platform to explore how best to leverage this opportunity to advance noma care at every level.We know that early detection saves lives and reduces the severity of disability”, he stated.
He added that through MSF’s outreach screenings, 666 early-stage noma patients were identified and referred, clear evidence that awareness and timely action make a profound difference. “This highlights the importance of enhanced community education, better training for frontline health workers, and integrating noma screening into primary healthcare services”, he said.
Noma is a rapidly progressing gangrenous infection that affects the face, primarily in malnourished children with poor oral hygiene, living in extreme poverty. It begins as a simple gum infection and lead to severe disfigurement or death within days if untreated.
Nigeria falls with the Noma belt SSA falling among countries with the highest prevalence of the disease especially in the Nothern Western region. Factors such as poverty, malnutrition, poor oral hygiene continues to drive the incidence while poor surveillance system means many cases goes undiagnosed and untreated thus leading to avoidable deaths.
