Angela Onwuzoo
The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation has commended President Bola Tinubu for his commitment to local vaccine production and improving healthcare delivery in the country.
GAVI’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Sania Nishtar, gave the commendation during her inaugural visit to Nigeria.
The GAVI boss also lauded the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Mohammad Ali Pate, and the Executive Director of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr. Muyi Aina, for their dedication to improving health outcomes for Nigerians.
Tinubu, on Thursday, directed Pate to work with the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, to ensure the release of necessary funds for vaccine procurement.
He assured GAVI of Nigeria’s commitment to fulfilling its outstanding counterpart contributions for routine vaccines for 2023.
Speaking at a reception organised by the Federal Government and alliance partners in her honour, Nishtar
said the success of GAVI hinges on the success of Nigeria.
She disclosed that the President was very happy about the prospect and plan by GAVI to launch the African Countries Vaccine Manufacture Initiative in June this year.
Nishtar said, “Nigeria is a very important Country to us. GAVI has a special strategy for Nigeria. The success of GAVI hinges on the success of Nigeria. I am in Nigeria to listen, learn and understand bottlenecks in the line of delivery.
“The information gathered here will be included in my strategic plan. We are grateful for the insights provided by the government and Civil Society Organisations.
“President Tinubu is championing human resources mobilisation for health and we will continue to support his initiative. We commend the efforts of Prof. Pate and Dr Aina for their efforts”.
The NPHCDA boss who represented the health minister at the event, announced that the Federal Government had released her counterpart fund just as it was also committed to fulfilling other obligations.
Aina said the visit of the GAVI boss was a demonstration of her commitment and support for Nigeria’s healthcare delivery system.
Nishtar rounded up her working visit to Nigeria with advocacy meetings with the Governor of Sokoto State, the Sultan of Sokoto, and some first-class northern traditional rulers.
Copyright PUNCH
All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH.
Contact: health_wise@punchng.com
The post GAVI hails Tinubu on local vaccine production appeared first on Healthwise.