In Nigeria, a hit pop song gets families dancing to the immunisation beat

On a sweltering evening in November, in Damboa, a busy town about 85 kilometres from Maiduguri, the capital of Nigeria’s Borno state, Halimat Jatau sat with her three-year-old daughter Aisha outside their home, nodding gently to the rhythm of a song airing on a local radio station.

“I like the song. It is the only thing soothing my body right now amid the hot weather,” the 29-year-old told VaccinesWork. “Apart from being a cool song, it also passes an important message to me – that I should take my child’s immunisation seriously.”

“It was on my husband’s radio when I first heard the song. He called me to come and listen to it. I fell in love with it immediately. No one hates a good song, let alone the one featuring our superstar, Ali Nuhu, from northern Nigeria.

– Sufiyat Isah, 34-year-old mother of two children

Since giving birth to Aisha, Jatau has never taken her to any health centre for her routine vaccines, “which I now know to be very wrong on my part,” she said. She said years of listening to wrong teachings had seeded unfounded fears about child immunisation.

However, the song playing on the radio that evening, which features Ali Nuhu, her favourite actor in Nigeria’s ‘Nollywood’ cinema scene, has managed to reshape her perspective.

“I love Ali Nuhu so much, and if someone like him, a celebrated actor from our state, is saying immunisation is good for children, I believe him. I mean, the song has reinforced my new position on immunisation.” Jatau said. In the past, she said, her head had been turned by rumours of shady plots and bad actors.

“The song has been playing several times since October on the radio, and I have promised that I will take Aisha for her first-ever immunisation this month. Nothing will change my stance again,” she said.

The song

The track Jatau was vibing to that evening was ‘No More Zero Dose,’ which was released on October 24 – World Polio Day – by UNICEF to raise mass awareness of the importance of immunisation. Zero-dose children, specifically, are children like Aisha who have not received even their first vaccine, and remain acutely vulnerable to preventable childhood diseases.

The 4’57”-long track was produced by Nigerian music producer Cobhams Asuquo and features a diverse crew of top actors and artistes from across West and Central Africa. Apart from Asuquo, seven other Nigerian celebrities lent their talents to the song: Spyro, Ali Nuhu, Kate Henshaw, Omawumi, Qing Madi, Timi Dakolo and Waje. Also featured are Cameroonian rapper Stanley Enow, Malian rapper Master Soumy, Chadian singer Mawndoe, and Guinean singer Sekouba Bambino.

“I am guilty of not having taken my second child for immunisation ever. My first child has only received a polio vaccine in his life. This is about to change because I will do the needful now,”

– Sufiyat Isah, 34-year-old mother of two children

The song opens with a verse from Spyro, in the local Pidgin dialect, asking people to listen and pay attention to the fact that many people have suffered needlessly from preventable diseases like polio.

“We only need to propagate the news; we can no longer underrate it. If they had been immunised, they would have been enjoying today…,” Spyro sings.

Other celebrities join in, clearly ringing the following phrases in their verses: “Every child deserves attention”, “Let’s leave no one behind”, “We can do better for the children”, “We want better for the future”, “No more zero dose”, “No more hesitation”, “Fight for every child” and “Our children deserve our care and love.”

Even though the song was released just over a month ago, it is gaining cultural traction. Some community health workers say they are playing the song via portable speakers as they move from community to community promoting the immunisation gospel. As of 4 December 2024, the song has gained over 1.3 million views on YouTube, with additional views from platforms like Facebook, Instagram and X.

More importantly still, it is being played repeatedly on the radio and has now become a favourite track for many listeners like Sufiyat Isah, a 34-year-old mother of two children, aged four and six, in Tulluwa village of Rabah Local Government Area of Sokoto State, in northwest Nigeria.

“It was on my husband’s radio when I first heard the song. He called me to come and listen to it. I fell in love with it immediately. No one hates a good song, let alone the one featuring our superstar, Ali Nuhu, from northern Nigeria. The song is being played at stores and markets,” Isah, a farmer, told VaccinesWork.

“I am guilty of not having taken my second child for immunisation ever. My first child has only received a polio vaccine in his life. This is about to change because I will do the needful now,” she said.

In an August 2024 report, WHO said Nigeria faces a particularly alarming situation among lower- and middle-income countries, home to an estimated over 2.2 million zero-dose children in 2021.

WHO noted that to address this critical issue, the signatory agencies of the Global Action Plan for Healthy Lives and Well-being for All (SDG3 GAP) – including Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance – are collaborating with the Nigerian government to reach every child with immunisation services. WHO described this approach as the most effective path toward achieving the critical goal.

Additionally, the organisation emphasised that reaching zero-dose children requires locating and engaging the communities they belong to. However, since such communities often include remote rural, urban poor, or conflict-affected areas facing various forms of deprivation, cross-sectoral collaboration is needed to identify and reach them.

Zero-dose song’s impact so far

Rajat Madhok, the Chief of Communication, Advocacy and Partnerships at UNICEF Nigeria, told VaccinesWork that the song has been generating the expected results so far.

“In the short span of one month since the song was released, it has been used in vaccination campaigns across the country, in communities, in markets, at health facilities, most times based on requests by the communities themselves. That is a good indication that the song has received a very good reception, and its message received in a positive light so far. It has worked and its impact will be quite evident in more months,” he said.

Madhok said the track came about as part of advocacy and awareness efforts to reduce the number of children who haven’t received a single dose of vaccines, putting them at risk of preventable childhood diseases. He said the celebrities on the song are UNICEF Ambassadors and Champions.

Furthermore, Madhok said everyone plays a role in ensuring there are no more zero-dose children, at different capacities.

“It is a joint effort of parents taking their children to the health facility at the right age for each vaccine, health workers providing support and the service to parents, which sometimes includes counselling, debunking vaccine myths, record keeping and timely reminders, and community leaders providing continuous sensitisation and debunking misinformation in their communities,” he said.

At the launch of the song in Maiduguri, Borno State, which has one of the highest concentrations of zero-dose children in Nigeria, Dr Gerida Birukila, UNICEF Chief of Maiduguri Field Office, said she believed the song would become a popular anthem and boost vaccination rates. She decried that in Borno State, 21% of children have never been vaccinated while over 71% have not been fully vaccinated.

“I always implore parents of zero-dose children to take them for immunisation up to their current age because the consequences of not doing so far outweigh any ignorance or fear they may have. They should not play with their children’s lives… This is why I love the ‘No More Zero Dose’ song.”

– Professor Ben Onankpa, paediatrician and infectious diseases expert

Could a song change the situation? Madhok seems to think it will. “Targeted advocacy, communication and social mobilisation are one of the key strategies in addressing the zero-dose burden in Nigeria. The zero-dose music is very important to create public awareness and also it highlights public advocacy and importance to both health and non-health stakeholders. The music will further buttress the strategy of ensuring both health and non-health stakeholders need to collaborate more in resolving the zero burden in Nigeria and Borno State.”

Celebrities as social change agents

Whether in the highly developed economies in the West or the lowest-income economies in the Global South, celebrities are understood to be powerful influencers of community behaviour, capable of wielding positive change.

Asuquo and Enow, two of the celebrities featured in the zero-dose song, said that is exactly what they did with their collaboration on the hit track. The duo spoke of their involvement in the UNICEF project in an interview with Nigerian broadcast network Arise News.

“For us, it’s about using music as a tool for social change. Obviously, this is our gift, this is our trade, but what makes it more meaningful is the fact that it impacts people socially. It’s great to have people dance, but it’s also great to contribute to a conversation around the welfare of children and it’s sad that Africa remains a place where there are so many unvaccinated kids, of which ‘Zero Dose’ is all about,” Asuquo said.

Enow told Arise: “The future is now, Africa is now, and we cannot do without its kids. It’s important that Africa comes together via music, not only to make people dance but also to make the people feel empowered by the ‘No More Zero Dose’ message. It’s time for social change as artistes. I always say it’s good to be a star, but you have to use your star power to empower.”

Protecting generations

Professor Ben Onankpa, a paediatrician and infectious diseases expert at the College of Health Sciences, Usmanu Danfodiyo University in Sokoto, Sokoto State, believes  ignorance is the single major reason why there are still zero-dose children.

“Whether it is aversion to vaccines or fear of the unknown, everything boils down to ignorance. Therefore, any initiative that enlightens parents and guardians of zero-dose children and encourages them to take action is welcome. Giving children immunisation is the best way to prevent them from getting preventable diseases, which are so many in our society.

“Some children are immuno-compromised and will likely suffer greatly from exposure to vaccine-preventable diseases. I always implore parents of zero-dose children to take them for immunisation up to their current age because the consequences of not doing so far outweigh any ignorance or fear they may have. They should not play with their children’s lives,” Onankpa told VaccinesWork.

He stressed that for every child that is immunised, a generation is being saved from potential dangers, adding that there is a cost-saving benefit for the parents and the country at large.

“The costs of treating diseases like pneumonia, measles, and others are greater than the cost of immunisation. It’s not only the country that will save money but also households. For example, currently in Nigeria today, most families pay for treatment out of pocket, and medicines are expensive. Immunisation makes children less susceptible to these diseases and helps to save money for families.

“This is why I love the ‘No More Zero Dose’ song. There are versions of the song in the various languages spoken in Nigeria, including English, Pidgin, Hausa and others. The song has been airing on local radio stations and I’ve been listening to it. It is a beautiful way of telling the message of the rewards of immunisation. Luckily, even poor families own radios, so they will not miss the message. And lastly, the country must promote girl child education by all means, because when a girl who is educated becomes a mother, she won’t need to be told the importance of immunisation for her child,” Onankpa said.