Nigeria's GPS Tracking Finds 217,000 Unvaccinated Children in 18 Months

For health systems struggling to reach every child with life-saving vaccines, Nigeria's recent experiment with GPS-tracked vaccination teams delivers a compelling proof of concept. By replacing paper logs and self-reported data with real-time location tracking and evidence-based gap analysis, the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) has uncovered a hidden population of over 217,000 unvaccinated children—and demonstrated that digital health can move from counting doses to finding zero-dose kids.

Nigeria has taken a significant leap in its fight against vaccine-preventable diseases by deploying digital tracking technologies that identified more than 217,000 unvaccinated children over an 18-month period. The disclosure was made by Muyi Aina, Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), at the 2026 Insights Learning Forum organized by eHealth Africa in Abuja. This marks a departure from conventional, often manually intensive immunization monitoring methods, addressing a chronic challenge in a country that routinely records some of the highest numbers of zero-dose children in the world.

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The disclosure was made by Muyi Aina, Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), at the 2026 Insights Learning Forum organized by eHealth Africa in Abuja.

The intervention began with the deployment of GPS trackers on vaccination teams, with the primary goal of verifying that health workers reached their assigned communities—especially those in remote and underserved areas. The data generated revealed glaring gaps in service delivery, including missed settlements and incomplete coverage. Rather than relying on self-reported or paper-based records, health authorities could for the first time make objective, real-time assessments. These insights prompted immediate corrective measures, such as redirecting teams to areas with poor outreach. The technology was later expanded to explicitly identify children who had slipped through the immunization net, a shift from merely monitoring movement to actively finding and enrolling missed populations.

The implications for Nigeria’s primary healthcare system are profound. With an estimated 19 million unvaccinated or under-vaccinated children across the country, the identification of over 217,000 within 18 months—though still a fraction of the total—demonstrates the scalability of digital tools in low-resource settings. The NPHCDA has also integrated digital financial management systems to boost transparency and accountability in the flow of funds to primary healthcare centres (PHCs), an equally critical aspect of strengthening the health system. Aina stressed that the move toward data-driven decision-making represents a broader transformation of PHC delivery, one that is being scaled alongside efforts to increase the number of functional PHCs nationwide.