Targeted mobile outreach initiatives are expanding access to essential healthcare services in underserved communities across Adamawa State, Nigeria, where long distances, insecurity and seasonal flooding have historically limited access to fixed health facilities. Although efforts to strengthen primary healthcare systems continue, many remote communities still face significant barriers to routine services such as immunisation, antenatal care, chronic disease management, mental health support and assistance for survivors of gender-based violence. These challenges particularly affect women, children, people with disabilities and populations displaced by conflict.
To address these gaps, the Adamawa State Government, through the Ministry of Health and the State Primary Health Care Development Agency, deployed ten mobile clinics to deliver integrated healthcare services in hard-to-reach areas. The initiative is led by the government with technical support from the World Health Organization and funding from the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund. Between September and December 2025, the mobile clinics carried out more than 410 outreach visits across ten local government areas and reached over 350,500 people with services including antenatal and postnatal care, routine immunisation, outpatient consultations, nutrition screening, reproductive health services, mental health and psychosocial support, disease surveillance and gender-based violence prevention and response.
The outreach programme has significantly improved healthcare access for individuals who previously had little or no contact with formal medical services. For example, a young man from Mafiya village who had lived for years with untreated seizures was diagnosed with epilepsy during a mobile clinic visit and started on treatment. After receiving counselling and follow-up guidance, his seizures decreased and he was able to resume normal daily activities. His case also encouraged other community members to seek medical support for similar conditions, helping to reduce stigma surrounding neurological and mental health issues.
Each mobile clinic is staffed by a multidisciplinary team that includes nurses, community health extension workers, psychosocial counsellors, mental health specialists and gender-based violence officers, with doctors providing supervision when required. This integrated approach allows multiple health and protection needs to be addressed during a single visit, which is particularly important in communities that can only be reached occasionally. By the end of 2025, more than 172,000 people had received mental health and psychosocial support through the programme, including individuals living with epilepsy, depression, substance use disorders and other mental health conditions, while hundreds of survivors of gender-based violence received confidential care and referrals.
Beyond delivering immediate healthcare services, the mobile outreach initiative has helped strengthen trust in the health system and improved the identification and referral of patients who require continued care. Health authorities and partners note that such programmes play an important role in advancing universal health coverage by ensuring that people are not excluded from care because of where they live. However, sustained investment in health workers, essential medicines and last-mile delivery systems will be necessary to expand these efforts and ensure that vulnerable communities affected by insecurity and displacement continue to receive essential healthcare services.
