By Asma’u Ahmad
The Nigeria’s Federal Government says it would pay $1.9 billion as counterpart fund for GAVI Transition Plan which will run for the next 10 years.
The Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole, stated this on Friday in Kano, at the opening of the 61st National Council on Health (NCH) meeting.
Global Alliance for Vaccine and Immunisation (GAVI) is the largest global platform that mobilizes human, financial and logistic support and resources for vaccine-preventable ailments.
Prof. Isaac Adewole
Prof. Adewole said that the GAVI board had approved Nigeria’s proposal for transition for Nigeria Strategy for Routine Immunisation and Primary Health Care Systems Strengthening (NSIPSS).
He added that the investment was worth over three billion dollars, saying that GAVI committed 1.03 billion dollars for the programme, while Federal Government would contribute $1.9 billion in the next 10 years (2018-2028).
According to him, the benefits are that the lives of additional 1.539,651 children under the age of one year will be saved by 2028 by increasing immunisation rates to 85 per cent in states of the federation.
The minister explained that the programme would also help to improve the supply chain system for vaccines to consolidate the gains in polio eradication.
He described the theme for this year’s NCH — “Roadmap for Achieving Universal Health Coverage” as apt and timely. Adewole said that Nigeria developed its first five-year (2010-2015) National Strategic Health Development Plan (NSHDP) in collaboration with stakeholders in the health sector in 2010.
He added that the long awaited second NSHDP plan was now ready and the country had another well articulated and robust plan which was the product of vigorous and extensive work by government and stakeholders. He noted that the country had made progress in the fight against Tuberculosis.
Adewole said that the Ministry of Health had developed and submitted a comprehensive health support plan for the 91,000 Nigerian returnees that were expected from Cameroon, comprising 4,000 from Adamawa and 87,000 from Borno state.
Earlier, Governor Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano State said that the state government was working to improve health system through provision of many health facilities and equipment.
He said that regardless of the financial constraints of the state government in the last three years, it invested significantly to improve the health sector, adding that the state government had completed two ultra-modern hospitals.
The governor added that the state government had employed doctors, nurses and other health practitioners to provide quality health manpower to hospitals in the state.
According to him, the state government has been running three free health programmes namely: the Free Maternal and Child Healthcare, free accident and emergency services and free eye care programme.
