Follow Us on Google
Desmond Mgboh, Kano
Co–Chairman of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Mr. Bill Gates, has stressed the need for sufficient and timely funding as well as better coordination of the anti-polio programme in Nigeria.
Speaking at the weekend, in Kano State, during a video conference with Governor Abdullahi Ganduje, Chairman of Dangote Foundation, Alhaji Aliko Dangote and other stakeholders, Gates appreciated the improvement recorded in coverage, across primary healthcare indicators in the state.
“Kano’s coverage for Penta 3 has improved from 19 percent in 2013, to 46 percent in 2018; but more needs to be done in terms of strengthening the primary healthcare system,” he said.
Although Gates noted that no case of Wild Polio Virus has been recorded in Kano since 2014, he stressed that “the critical need to strengthen key process components of primary healthcare, such as the supply chain, to make the goal of total eradication of polio achievable.”
Dangote, in his remarks, expressed satisfaction with the improvement recorded in the quality of data collected but stressed the need for the state health team “to work towards developing a robust data quality improvement plan before the end of the year.
“This is targeted towards reducing the discrepancy in the administrative and survey data for all key health indices.”
Ganduje added that “despite the current challenges in the health system, we have continued putting the backbone structures which ensures that the ongoing Memorandum of Understanding partnership is on course; to deliver the expected results across various workstreams within the State Primary Health Care Management Board, Hospitals Services Management Board and Drugs and Medical Consumables Supply Agency.
“Since the last review, we have made remarkable progress beyond few programmatic areas of focus to additional scope in doing more around strengthening 2-way hospital referrals, maternal health and malaria program coordination”, the governor stressed.
Dr. Ganduje promised that hospitals in the four newly-created emirates in the state would be standardised, with more beds spaces, as part of his administration’s goal to maintaining the tempo in improving the quality of care for primary healthcare services, sustaining the quality integrated supportive supervision, and scale up strengthening of 2-way referral linkages between primary and secondary health care facilities.
Three years ago, Nigeria saw cases of wild poliovirus in more than two years, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, Switzerland.
Nigeria was on the brink of wiping out polio; its last recorded case had been in July 2014. That was a remarkable achievement, given that in 2012, it recorded 122 cases —more than all other countries combined.
Improvements to vaccination efforts had prompted the turnaround, and seemed to have set the stage for Africa to be declared polio-free, two years ago.
