2016 budget: FG orders provision for basic healthcare fund

Buhari said: “I want to assure you that there will be no complacency, as we will maintain and improve on our surveillance system as well as raise the childhood population immunity against the polio virus to avoid any spread of the disease”. They also congratulated Nigeria and global partners saying “since then, concerted effort by all levels of government, civil society, religious leaders, and tens of thousands of dedicated health workers have resulted in Nigeria successfully stopping polio”.

World Health Organization revealed that the dramatic progress in the fight against polio in Nigeria has been greatly facilitated by the involvement of the states and local government areas.

Nigeria’s exclusion leaves Afghanistan and Pakistan as the only polio-endemic countries in the world, a far cry from more than 125 countries in 1988.

The WHO Director-General, Dr Margaret Chan stated this yesterday on her assessment visit to Nigeria on the country’s polio eradication efforts.

The delisting of Nigeria from the wild polio virus endemic nations, following one year none discovery of any fresh case, is a precursor to the final eradication and certification of the country as polio-free in 2017. The Government will sustain the needed funding for operations and vaccine procurement for the programme.

State House Correspondent, Mariah Olaseinde reports that the world health organisation declared the country free in an official announcement on Monday.

He directed all government Ministries, Departments and Agencies involved in the Polio eradication effort, to remain proactively engaged and on guard against the re-emergence of the virus in Nigeria.

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced on September 25 that Nigeria WASnow polio-free and has been officially removed from the list of countries where polio is endemic.

According to the President, his administration is also addressing the significant morbidity and mortality rates caused by neglected tropical diseases.

He said: “These diseases disproportionately affect the poor and the vulnerable and as such are major concerns of this administration”.

Rotary is contributing $26,8-million to African countries to ensure the disease never returns to the continent: Burkina Faso ($1,6-million), Cameroon ($2,7-million), Chad ($2,6-million), Democratic Republic of Congo ($499 579), Equatorial Guinea ($685 000), Kenya ($750 102), Madagascar ($562 820), Mali ($1,5-million), Niger ($3-million), Nigeria ($6,9-million), Somalia ($4,9-million) and South Sudan ($1,5-million). The funds will be provided to UNICEF to support the goal of eradicating polio worldwide by 2018.