The global vaccine giant, Gavi Alliance, said Wednesday that it has so far invested $2.3 billion in Nigeria as support vaccination.
Interim Chief Executive Officer of the organisation, Mr David Marlow, said this in an interview with State House correspondents after a meeting with Vice President Kashim Shettima.
He said the amount was spent between 2002 and now, adding that the money was invested to strengthen Nigeria’s Primary Healthcare system.
“I just want to let you know that the Gavi Alliance has been a good friend of Nigeria since 2002 and since that time we have invested $2.3 billion to support Nigeria with vaccination and the strengthening of the Primary Healthcare system,” he said.
Marlow said the organisation was happy with the appointment of Professor Muhammad Ali Pate as Minister of Health, and is willing to partner to boost Nigeria’s health sector.
“We are also delighted now to partner with the Honourable Minister of Health and Social Welfare Prof Pate and we are so excited to see the new vision that he has led out in terms of the three-year strategy and the four action plans so we look forward to continuing to cooperate with the Ministry of Health,” he said.
The Gavi Chief said Nigeria is an important partner that must be given the needed attention because of the number of children that still needed to be vaccinated.
“I also want to just reemphasize that our work in is so important in a country like Nigeria which has 2.3 million children that have not had any vaccination so, this is really very important for us that we focus on immunization and strengthen the local communities’ Primary Healthcare systems to help the citizens of this wonderful country,” Marlow said, adding that a new vaccine for malaria would soon be available in Nigeria.
He said already, over four million young Nigerian women were vaccinated against the Human Papillomavirus.
“Just last month, we started by launching the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine for prevention of cancer in young women and in this short period of time we have reached more than 4.5 million young women in Nigeria and that is tremendous because the overall goal that we have for that vaccine globally, 20 percent of it is represented by Nigeria.
“But more importantly we are also now working together with the Minister of health to make sure that we understand the path forward when it comes to the accountability framework and I will just say the last comment is that in September the WHO and Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) recommended a second vaccine for malaria.
“As you know, malaria is a terrible disease with 95 percent of the disease on the African continent and a third of that is in Nigeria so that is really something that we will need to continue to focus on, in terms of how we bring the vaccine to Africa and Nigeria but making sure that that is one of the tools in the tool kit to fight this very bad disease,” he said.
Also speaking, the Minister of Health and Social Development, Professor Pate, said President Bola AhmedTinubu’s Renewed Hope vision had resonated both at home and abroad.
He disclosed that Gavi Alliance was in the country alongside 12 governments to rededicate themselves to supporting Nigeria’s health sector.
“I think the President’s vision and his Renewed Hope agenda for this has resonated locally and internationally. Here we have the largest global health fund; the Gavi Alliance and 12 governments, a very high level delegation visiting to understand where we are heading and to recommit themselves to work with us to improve access by Nigerians to basic healthcare services with immunization at the forefront of that,” he said.
He said the support would help Nigeria secure the future of its youth and the nation at large.
“That will save our children from dying due to preventable causes as well as enhance the future of our country by having capable young people that are healthier to drive the economy and achieve the prosperity that President Bola Tinubu has laid out in the vision that he has for this country,” he said.
The minister said Vice President Kashin Shettima, who received the delegation, reaffirmed the commitment of the Nigerian government to collaborate with entities like Gavi as he also emphasised the need for collaboration with State governments as well.
