…Gates Foundation to spend $7bn on interventions in 4 years
Vice President Kashim Shettima said Thursday that the federal government would address the concerns that surround the financing of the country’s primary healthcare system.
The Vice President said this at a meeting with members of Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Alhaji Aliko Dangote and Bill Gates at the Banquet Hall, Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He said the proposal is to provide timely domestic financing for the procurement of vaccines to boost industrial capacity to produce vaccines.
While acknowledging the threats facing Nigeria in the area of polio, the Vice President said the country’s three dose pentavalent vaccine coverage has improved from 33% in 2016 to 57% in 2021.
“The variant polio virus has declined in Nigeria by 84% from 2021, falling to fewer than 200 cases in 2022. He therefore commended the states that have achieved high category immunization coverage, which is between 60% and 80% of the target demographic and the number of states has expanded from 12 to 21 states in five years.
“The federal government and our respective state governments are going to set in place a transparent process and structure to undo the reality of the country as one with one of the highest proportions of non-immunized infants in the world over the last decade,” he said.
He said the federal government is “committed to eradicating variant poliovirus by the end of the year ensuring that every Nigerian child is covered in the routine immunization campaigns.”
On the issue of production of vaccines for immunization of children, the Vice President government would work with relevant partners to ensure that “vaccines are made available even to zero-dose children, of which ours, at 2 million, are the highest in the world after India.”
He commended Aliko Dangote Foundation and Bill Gates Foundation for their support to the country and its people.
Also speaking, Mr Bill Gates said his foundation had recently announced its intention to commit $7 billion to Africa in the next four years to support routine immunization in Nigeria, and the Global Polio Eradication Initiative in Northern Nigeria.
In his remarks, Alhaji Aliko Dangote he has bern partnering with Bill Gates and the federal and state governments in eradicating polio and improving routine immunization, nutrition and primary healthcare in the country.
“We genuinely believe that the National Economic Council and the decisions that you will make over the next four years will determine whether Nigeria has sound economic growth, keep its citizens happy and achieving the sustainable development goals,” he said.
In separate remarks, the Chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Alhaji Abdulraman Abdulrasaq and some governors expressed readiness to further collaborate with the Dangote and Gates foundations in the coming years.
