From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), has performed ground- breaking ceremony for the reconstruction of new Cold Chain Store for the preservation of vaccines and other related items.
The Agency explained that the project is one of the three mega cold chain stores planned for Abuja, Lagos and Kano for the purpose of massively expanding vaccine storage capacity at the national level in Nigeria.
Minister of health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, who performed the duty at the strategic cold chain store in Abuja, on Thursday, said the project will birth solution to challenges associated with handling shipments of vaccines in order to retain its potency.
He said: “Nigeria is a large country and continuously increasing population coupled with introduction of new and essential vaccines. This requires that we have sufficient storage space for vaccines and injection materials for efficient implementation of our immunization programme.
“The supply chain challenges highlighted by COVID-19 vaccination effort also underlines the need for massive expansion of storage space which will confer a measure of resilience in the system.
“This was why we decided to embark on this system redesign which includes construction of three mega stores at the national level, deployment of optimized cold chain equipment at the health facilities, an efficient distribution system and the deployment of an electronic logistics management information system to provide visibility across the supply chain.”
He appreciated GAVI’s support in funding of the construction of two of the three mega stores, Abuja and Kano, hubs which is much appreciated.
Executive Director, NPHCDA, Dr. Faisal Shuaib, in his remarks, said his administration inherited an intractable problem of a perennial lack of storage space, especially for vaccines and injection materials, which led to an inefficient supply chain for vaccines and other health commodities.
He said: “There was simply insufficient space to store procured and dearly needed commodities. So, NPHCDA’s Department of Logistics and Health Commodities, with technical support from the National Logistics Working Group had to contend with fragmented shipments of requirement into the country. This led to multiple shipments over the years with attendant exorbitant operational costs.”
He said the logistics team developed a strategic system design plan to address the challenges in immunization supply chain. “The plan was reviewed with technical support from the GAVI, the vaccine alliance, integrated supply Chain 2 (iSC2) team which visited the country in July 2019 and other efforts that came after.”
UNICEF Chief of Health, Eduardo Celades, in his remarks, stated that UNICEF was happy with the intervention, as it will strengthen the immunization system in Nigeria as well as efficient management of vaccines and other injection materials.
Representative of GAVI, the vaccine alliance, Thabani Maphosa, in his remarks, assured NPHCDA and other stakeholders of GAVI’s continued support in vaccine provision and other injection materials.
He expressed optimism that the cold chain store project will herald significant improvement in vaccine handling, thus retaining its potency.