By Chioma Umeha
Nigeria’s Minister of health, Isaac Adewole has
assured that the nation will be polio free come August 2019.
The Minister made this statement at the
inauguration of a Primary Health Care Revitalization Supply Chain Committee in
Abuja.
Nigeria had not recorded any polio case for almost
two years before several cases were discovered in Maiduguri.
The country was one of three countries left to
completely tackle Poliomyelitis scourge.
The two other countries are Pakistan and
Afghanistan.
To strengthen the health care system, the Minister
also commissioned Health Centre Power kits.
He said the Ministry of health and its sister
agencies are working towards achieving a comprehensive data on routine
immunisation coverage in the country.
Professor Adewole emphasised that the objective of
primary healthcare revitalisation is to ensure provision of quality basic
health services targeting diseases such as malaria, HIV/AIDS, maternal and new
born care, nutrition and non-communicable diseases.
The executive Director, National Primary Health
Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) maintained that the overall goal is to revamp
and revitalise up to ten thousand primary health centres across the country. He
explained this is principally to improve the provision of basic healthcare
package for over 100 million Nigerians.
