The Executive Director of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr Faisal Shuaib, has described the World Health Organisation as a veritable partner in achieving Nigeria’s polio-free status.

The NPCDA executive director said this in a statement posted on the website of the WHO Regional Office for Africa in Brazzaville.

According to the statement, Shuaib made the assertion when he received the new WHO Nigeria Country Representative, Dr. Walter Kazadi Mulombo in his office at Abuja.

Mulombo was in Shuaib’s office as part of familiarisation tour to government parastatals and agencies under the Federal Ministry of Health.

Shuaib said WHO had been the government’s strongest partner in the fight against polio and other vaccine-preventable diseases in Nigeria.

On June 18, 2020, the independent African Regional Certification Commission for Poliomyelitis Eradication reviewed and accepted the complete national documentation of Nigeria, granting the country wild poliovirus-free status.

The determination was based on field verification visits to the country over the past year, with the final visit to Nigeria conducted in March 2020.

During the visits, the ARCC conducted a thorough analysis of Nigeria’s documentation and field visits to states to validate programme key aspects, including polio surveillance, immunisation and laboratory capacity.

The executive director then assured the WHO Representative that Nigeria would not rest on its oars until high coverage for all vaccine-preventable diseases is addressed.

He informed him that Nigeria recently achieved 70 per cent coverage in routine immunisation (RI) based on the 2019 SMART survey result, an indication that the priority of the agency to strengthen RI is on the right path to achieving success.

He also alluded that the feat would not have been possible without WHO’s technical support and leadership.

In his response, Mulombo acknowledged the strong collaboration between WHO and NPHCDA, which enabled WHO to provide the needed technical support toward the overall achievement of setting priorities.

He restated that:

“The government’s vision and priorities for the revitalisation of Primary Healthcare Centres toward Universal Health Coverage aligns perfectively with WHO’s role.”

The WHO Representative also mentioned that generally, Nigeria’s priorities were in tandem with those of WHO Thirteenth General Programme of Work and its triple billions of targets.

He said:

“It was a pleasant coincidence that I arrived on the day of the acceptance of Nigeria’s documentation for polio-free status.

“I assure you that we’ll sustain the gains and further build on the achievements; for this to happen, we’ll rely on NPHCDA’s support.”

NAN