By Zayamu Hassan
The Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, has urged royal fathers from the South West to continue to sensitize their communities on the benefits of immunization and other Primary Health Care services.
He also called on them to educate residents of their communities on the dangers of non-vaccination and continue to promote COVID-19 vaccination.
He stated while formally declaring open the maiden quarterly review meeting of the Southwest Traditional Leaders Committee on Primary Health Care Delivery (SWTLC), in Abuja, Monday.
Ehanire said: “I want to draw your attention to the fact the performance of most Southwest States in COVID-19 vaccination is suboptimal.
“I believe that bringing your influence to bear on the situation can change the narrative for the Southwest. This is why I am eagerly looking forward to your kickstarting the implementation of the MOU from today.
“Continue to sensitize your communities about the benefits of immunization and other PHC services, the risk of non-vaccination and in particular, to continue to promote COVID-19 vaccination in your domains.”
Earlier, the Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Faisal Shuaib, said that the meeting was aimed at ensuring an effective primary health care delivery to the people of the Southwest in particular and Nigeria in general.
“I am glad we are finally set to start the operationalization of the MOU between our esteemed royal fathers and the Federal Government through NPHCDA. This maiden quarterly meeting will, therefore, fine-tune the operational framework for members so that this partnership will be productive.
“Also, we humbly expect that at this meeting the committee will adopt an operational guide for members support to PHC programs and interventions (COVID-19 vaccination, polio, measles, yellow fever, rotavirus, all other routine vaccinations, maternal, newborn, and childhood nutrition) in the areas of role modeling, community advocacy, mobilization and sensitization, resource mobilization and monitoring.”
On his part, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, said that the traditional rulers in the south west are determined to support the primary health care services in their communities.
He disclosed that royal father in the region is currently mobilizing volunteers to support primary health care services across all communities.
“We don’t want to leave every effort to the federal or state government. The advocacy to improve man power in the primary healthcare sector is being led by us.
“As traditional leaders, we have a lot of volunteers within our communities and we are making efforts to use the strength of volunteers to actually impact on the primary healthcare initiatives in our various communities.
“So, for us it’s a very important role for us to do this partnership and we don’t want to joke with it and that is why all the traditional rulers in all the 6 South West states are here,” the Ooni of Ife said.
