The coordinating minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Ali Pate, has been honoured with the Capital Health Award for Lifetime Achievement in Advancing Preventive Healthcare.
The award is also in recognition of decades of his leadership in strengthening health systems and championing disease prevention in the country.
The award was organised by the Capital Health Awards Academy and supported by Sagar Vitaceuticals Nigeria Limited. They commended the minister's contributions to public health leadership and national health outcomes.
At the event, the minister, who was represented by his senior special adviser, Mr Chinedu Moghalu, said the recognition aligned with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, which places healthcare at the centre of national development, with emphasis on prevention, improved outcomes and resilient systems.
According to him, "preventive healthcare remains a strategic pathway to reducing avoidable disease burdens, protecting human capital and improving productivity."
He highlighted the introduction of the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine into Nigeria's national immunisation programme as a landmark intervention in preventing cervical cancer.
Since its introduction in October 2023, the HPV vaccination campaign has reached over 12 million girls aged between nine and 14 across the country, making it one of the largest preventive health efforts in the region.
The minister credited the achievement to a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach under the Nigeria Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative, particularly the leadership of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, state primary healthcare boards, frontline health workers, development partners, civil society groups, and traditional and religious leaders.
The minister reaffirmed the federal government's commitment to sustaining preventive healthcare, strengthening immunisation systems and deepening collaboration with stakeholders to ensure equitable and resilient health delivery.
He described the award as both an honour and a renewed call to responsibility, stressing that true leadership in health is often measured by diseases prevented and lives quietly protected.
In her welcome remark, the founder of the Academy, Salomey Eferemo, said nations are remembered not only for what they build, but for whom they honour.
She maintained that across Nigeria, healthcare professionals carry the quiet burden of sustaining life under extraordinary circumstances. "They labour in emergency rooms, policy chambers, classrooms, research facilities, and underserved communities, often unseen, frequently uncelebrated, yet indispensable to national survival.
In her keynote address, Dr Ramatu Mohammed-Nafi'u, consultant pediatrician at VGC Hospital, Abuja, called on leaders and policymakers to place children at the centre of national planning, describing them as the purest symbol of hope, resilience and the future of society.
She spoke passionately on the values children embody and the collective responsibility of adults to protect and nurture their potential.
Mohammed-Nafi'u also highlighted the resilience of children growing up in challenging circumstances, including poverty, insecurity, and limited access to education and healthcare, noting that their ability to cope and adapt reflects the strength of the human spirit.