Healthier
Africa
The Aliko Dangote Foundation has invested over $200 million in health programmes across Africa — from polio eradication to malnutrition, from vaccination campaigns to emergency pandemic response. Health is the foundation of everything else.
Polio Eradication
in Nigeria
In 2012, Nigeria accounted for more than half of all polio cases worldwide. Aliko Dangote committed $100 million to partner with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and UNICEF on a nationwide polio immunisation campaign.
The partnership deployed over 200,000 health workers across Nigeria's 36 states for National Immunisation Days, reaching children in some of the most remote and conflict-affected areas in the northeast. Aliko Dangote personally advocated with traditional and religious leaders to overcome vaccine hesitancy.
On 25 August 2020, the World Health Organisation (WHO) officially certified Africa as free of wild poliovirus — a milestone that Nigeria's eradication in 2015 made possible. Nigeria's story proved that political will, community engagement and sustained funding can eliminate ancient diseases.
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation · UNICEF · WHO · NPHCDA · Rotary International · 36 State Primary Health Care Development Agencies
Nigeria accounts for 53% of global polio cases. Aliko Dangote pledges $100M for eradication programme.
Gates Foundation $100M co-commitment. Joint programme framework established with Federal MoH.
National Immunisation Days reach 40M+ children. Community mobilisers deployed in northeast despite Boko Haram conflict.
Nigeria records ZERO wild poliovirus cases for 12 consecutive months — the WHO certification threshold.
WHO certifies the entire African continent as free of wild poliovirus. Nigeria's success was the critical turning point.
Nigeria maintains polio-free status. ADF continues funding surveillance and outbreak response capacity.
Severe Acute Malnutrition Programme
Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) affects over 20 million children under 5 in Africa annually and kills more than 500,000 each year. It is treatable at low cost — yet most children never receive the ready-to-use therapeutic foods and community health worker support they need.
The ADF committed $100 million to the Global SAM Treatment Programme in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation — the largest private commitment to child malnutrition in African history at the time. The programme has treated over 1 million children across Nigeria, Ethiopia, Niger and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The model combines community health worker training, RUTF (Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food) distribution, caregiver education and health system strengthening — creating a lasting community-based treatment infrastructure rather than a dependency on external aid.
Health Programme Portfolio
Vaccination Campaigns
Annual vaccination drives in partnership with NPHCDA, reaching 15M+ children. Focus on measles, meningitis, yellow fever and routine immunisation.
COVID-19 Response
$35M emergency response: personal protective equipment, oxygen plants at 5 hospitals, ventilators, isolation centres and food aid to 3M+ families.
Maternal & Child Health
Skilled birth attendance programmes, antenatal care expansion and obstetric fistula repair surgeries in rural northern Nigeria.
Free Medical Outreach
Annual multi-day medical camps near Group operations. 50,000+ patients receive free consultations, eye care, dental care and medications annually.
Health Infrastructure
Construction and equipping of primary health centres in host communities across Nigeria, Ethiopia and Cameroun. 120+ facilities built or renovated.
Sickle Cell Initiative
Awareness, genetic counselling and care support for sickle cell disease — Nigeria has the world's highest sickle cell burden with 150,000 children born affected annually.
Current Health Initiatives
Comprehensive $100 million program to treat severe acute malnutrition among children under 5 years in Nigeria. Over 1 million children treated at therapeutic nutrition centers.