Niger is a landlocked, low-income country in West Africa with an estimated population of 24 million in 2020. One of the poorest countries in the world, ranked last on the Human Development Index, Niger faces a continuous harsh environment and poor economic conditions. However, the country has made substantial strides in reducing mortality among children under-five to a level comparable to other countries within the region, and it was the only country within West Africa that achieved the Millenium Development Goal for child survival by 2015. Since 2000, under-five mortality has reduced by two-thirds, from 225 to 80 deaths per 1000 live births, an average annual reduction of 5.4%. At the time the exemplars study was launched, neonatal mortality was estimated to have reduced by 3% per year from 43 deaths per 1000 in 2000 to 25 in 2018.  However, more recently the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation revised the 2018 estimate to 33.9. The 2021 estimate is 33.7, suggesting that progress has stalled during the past decade. Estimates of maternal mortality showed a reduction of 2.7% per year from 813 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2000 to 509 in 2017.

Progress in mortality reduction was guided by the persistent effort from the government and its partners, laid out in the five-years health, economic and social development plans. Niger is currently implementing the Plan de Developpement Sanitaire (2022-2026)  , which followed on the the Plan de Developpment Sanitaire (PDS) (2017-2021). In July 2019 Niger began receiving Global Financing Facility support to assist with progress toward universal health coverage by 2030 for women, children and adolescents, and the investment case for 2022-2026 was developed.

• A forthcoming peer-reviewed journal article will summarize results from the exemplars study, and the exemplars website will present results later in 2023.
• The team analyzed trends related to contraceptive use (report, ); neonatal mortality (report, policy brief); chronic malnutrition (report, policy brief); coverage and equity of maternal and newborn interventions (report, policy brief); and quality of maternal and newborn care (report, policy brief).
• Niger was part of the multicountry study on Covid-19.
• The Niger team participated in and completed analysis for Countdown annual meetings in 2022 and 2023.