Nigeria gets N1.24b to fight polio, others

THE Federal Government has received a grant of 600 million yen (about N1.24 billion) from the Japanese government through the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) for child survival programmes including polio.

The donation is specifically for polio eradication, strengthening cold chain system particularly for routine immunisation and support for Maternal, New-born and Child Health Weeks (MNCHWs) in Nigeria.

At the signing and exchange of notes for the grant yesterday in Abuja, Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, expressed delight that “this year, the government (Nigeria) has up-scaled its financial commitment and is spending N4.7 billion just for polio eradication efforts.

“Polio is still being transmitted in Nigeria…Japan has remained a major donor in the international health field…for us to have additional N1.2 billion from the government of Japan through UNICEF is significant.”

Country Representative, UNICEF, Dr. Suomi Sakai, said: “This grant is timely and will make significant contribution to Nigeria’s final push to stop the transmission of the wild poliovirus and the effort towards strengthening routine immunisation including expanding the cold chain system for introduction of new vaccines as well as for institutionalising MNCHWs in Nigeria.”

Japanese Ambassador to Nigeria, Ryuichi Shoji, stressed: “Regarding the eradication of polio, we have come a long way. A great reduction in the number of polio victims has been observed in Nigeria since 2003.”

Shoji pledged his country’s resolve to tackle the yet unfinished work, which he said was Japan’s contribution to the prevention of infectious diseases.

He stated that these infectious diseases, including polio and malaria, were what the international community resolved to address with high priority, in line with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Sakai noted that although Nigeria was making progress in reducing its high child mortality rate, adding, however, that some challenges remain to be addressed if the country is to achieve the health MDGs.

She regretted that childhood killer diseases were still rampant even as “great strides had been taken in recent past to ensure interruption of wild polio virus transmission in Nigeria. The year 2011 witnessed a setback with a three-fold increase in the number of Wild Poliovirus cases compared to the number recorded for same period of 2010.”

“This calls for the development of a polio emergency plan in Nigeria, which has just been elaborated by government and partners. This plan needs to be supported by all and this contribution will go a long way in ensuring that there will be enough funding for Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) for planned polio supplemental immunisation activities (SIAs) in 2012, among other inputs,” she said.

Sakai said child mortality rate could be reduced with simple interventions like immunisation and other child survival interventions delivered in an integrated manner.