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From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Office in Nigeria has challenged the Nigerian government and other developing countries to see the decision of the US government on foreign aid as a wakeup call for self-reliance.
The UN Agency said the decision which came as a surprise to some people is a pointer that the end has come to some interventions in Nigeria, and other developing countries that hitherto get financial and logistics assistance from the US to run certain programmes.
UNICEF Deputy Representative in Nigeria, Dr. Rowan Khan, gave the challenge, yesterday, in Abuja, at the Primary Health Care (PHC) Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) Learning and Dissemination Event.
She explained that the Primary Health Care (PHC) MoU health systems strengthening initiative was a three-year (2022–March 2025) partnership between GAVI, the Federal Ministry of Health, UNICEF, and eight Nigerian states (Bayelsa, Gombe, Jigawa, Katsina, Kebbi, Niger, Taraba and Zamfara).
She further explained that the initiative aimed to strengthen routine immunization and PHC systems to reduce morbidity and mortality by addressing vaccine-preventable diseases and improving essential health services.
“To ensure sustainability, the initiative is transitioning programme ownership to State Governments, culminating in a national closeout event to highlight key lessons and the programme impact on sub-national investments.”
Dr. Khan said the decision of the Trump administration is truly affecting nearly all foreign aid programmes, hence it’s no surprise, but a wakeup call to stop reliance on external funding for health.
She added: “Looking at what is happening at the global level, we need to really reduce the reliance on others at all levels. The US government decision has shook us to the core, but honestly I think we knew this was coming because we cannot forever rely on external support. All of us need to have our own ownership, our own accountabilities, and our own responsibilities as well.”
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Dr. Mya Ngon, the Team Lead, Communicable and Non-Communicable Diseases at WHO, said that in spite of the successes recorded, more work needs to be done to reduce the zero dose in unimmunised children.
She added that it was important to prioritise reaching every child, particularly in underserved communities. “We also need to sustain government efforts to implement PHC strengthening and the immunisation to improve equitable access to vaccines and reduce the zero dose children.
“We should also remember our national goal to invest in reducing the reliance on campaigns and more on strengthening the health system. That is the path we are supporting the government to reach.”
Country Manager of GAVI, Jesicca Crawford, commended the governors of the eight implementing states and their Commissioners for health for their commitment to the programme, stressing that such commitment was necessary to build a healthier, more resilient Nigeria, where every child, citizen and woman has access to quality PHC services.
She, however, urged them to ensure that the services were sustained, while working towards ensuring that what has been achieved through the MoU is replicated in all other states.
Gombe State Deputy Governor, Dr. Manasseh Jatau, in his remarks, said that it was important for Nigeria to begin to sponsor research that would aid in producing medicines and vaccines from local plants.
He said that Nigeria has enough plants to produce the vaccines needed to serve its population, adding that importation of vaccines was costing the country hugely, but that if those vaccines were produced in Nigeria, it would reduce the cost to the Nigerian economy.
“We must take responsibility for our health issues. We are challenged to take responsibility for obvious reasons. In the long run, we should be prepared in case there is donor doubt, donor denial, donor fatigue, and eventually donor stoppage. If we don’t get ready for that, a calamity is waiting for us”, he added.
