By Our Correspondent
Governor Ibrahim Gaidam of Yobe state has assured Bill Gates and Aliko Dangote, founders of the Bill and Melinda Gates and Dangote Foundations respectively, which the state is totally committed to doing everything possible to ensure that children have access to quality healthcare, including protection from child killer diseases.
The governor spoke yesterday in Kaduna during the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Yobe and five other state governments on one hand and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Dangote Foundation on the other on routine immunisation.
The four other states include Kaduna, Sokoto, Borno, Kano and Bauchi.
“A team of consultants (from the two foundations) has been consistently supporting our State team right from conception through diagnosis and development of a comprehensive and harmonised state routine immunisation work plan. They are now guiding our team through the process of implementing the work plan, procurement of cold chain equipment and construction vaccines stores,” he said.
The governor expressed appreciation to the two foundations for the ‘financial and technical support’ they have been rendering to the state, saying Yobe’s health system had been energised as a result.
While expressing confidence that the Bill and Melinda Gates and Dangote Foundations would continue to support Yobe state, Gaidam assured that his administration would continue to give all necessary support to the programme to “ensure that all children are regularly immunised against all preventable diseases including polio.”