Rivers State Govt assures eradication of preventable diseases

0

Dr. Tammy  Danagogo, Secretary to the Rivers State Government (SSG), has assured the US Centre for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) of Gov. Nyesom Wike’s support for the effective eradication of preventable diseases in the state.

Danagogo said this on Tuesday, in a statement issued by his Media Assistant, Mrs Juliana Masi, and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Port Harcourt.The SSG reiterated the commitment of the Wike-led administration in placing high premium on health of the people in the state.Danagogo made this known during a working visit by Dr. Mary Boyd, the Country Director of the United States Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to his office.

“We all inow prevention is better than cure. Gov. Wike is working to prevent HIV, Tuberculosis, Polio, COVID-19 and other diseases.“He will not spare any effort to ensure we do our best. We appreciate your visit and support in the areas of HIV, Turbercolsis and other immunization campaigns.“The Ministry of Health is doing a lot in line with the government’s mandate; and Counterpart funds for crucial programmes like these are regularly released.

ALSO READ  Maduka Rejects PDP Guber Primary Result, Alleges Manipulation

“I assure you that the Governor appreciates the US Government in advocacy, technical, infrastructural and other support of our developmental efforts. We do not want any aspect of your work to slow down,” he said.Responding, Dr. Boyd said that her visit was to discuss way forward and efforts in supporting Rivers State towards tackling HIV, Tuberculosis and COVID-19 effect in the state.

Boyd explained that successes have been recorded for the past two years with 140,000 people living with HIV now having access to treatment, thus ensuring 85 per cent treatment coverage in the State.“Not only can they live a healthy, productive life, they also don’t transmit the virus anymore.“This has been an important legacy that this partnership has been able to accomplish in the last two years.“Two other areas that the CDC works in Nigeria are in the areas of Immunization and Global Health Security.“Important accomplishment that we also monitor is that 81 per cent of eligible individuals now have access to routine immunization in Rivers State and that is above average, compared to other parts of Nigeria.

ALSO READ  JDPC Creates Awareness On Wastes Disposal, Decries Poor Condition Of Environment

“Honestly, our collaboration with Rivers State has been wonderful because we can point to areas of impact that we have had in the lives of the people in Rivers,” she said.She, however, said “we have been talking to your team on ways to leverage some of the resilient infrastructure that already exist in these powerful programmes to make sure that we take advantage of them to further extend the impact of our collaboration to save more lives”.Boyd also appealed to the State government to act on the new record of the polio data and advocated for support to improve immunization coverage for polio as well that of COVID-19 vaccination coverage.Similarly, Dr. Omotayo Bolu, the Immunization Director for the CDC, said that the key to success in the immunisation drive comes when the state takes ownership of the campaigns, such as, release of counterpart funds for polio, measles, COVID-19 and other vaccines for preventable diseases.

ALSO READ  Police kill 2 allegedly enforcing sit-at-home in Anambra

“What the state counterpart fund does is that it allows us to reach very difficult areas like the Riverine areas.“Good micro plan and resources for teams, building local capacity and more will do that,” Bolu added. (NAN)

What are your thoughts?

Discover more from Odogwu Blog

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading