The Nigerian Government has received Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs), and other Medical consumables worth eight million dollars from the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) in Nigeria.
The government took delivery of thousands of goggles, masks, gloves, gowns, boots, waste bins, hand sanitizers, chlorine, and other commodities, at the Nigeria Center For Disease Control, (NCDC) warehouse in Abuja.
Speaking at event, Director-General, NCDC, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, said that the NCDC had been leading in public health response in the country, especially in terms of health care provision.
“We’re working we’ve been working very closely with the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), since the beginning of the response, and with all the state governments in Nigeria, so this will be the single largest donor provided IPC materials to the country. We will now carry out the distribution to all the PHCs with NPHCDA. Offering protection to healthcare workers, in addition to the vaccination program which has been successful so far, we really hope we can re-energize the response, sustain the response, and make sure we continue to keep the numbers, low in Nigeria, which is really what our target is. So, our country can continue, our economy will remain strong and our health care workers will remain protected,” Dr. Ihekweazu explained.
According to the Executive Director,NPHCDA, Dr. Faisal Shuaib, Health workers in PHCs continue to play an important role in the response by supporting the detection of cases, educating members of the community about the risks of the COVID-19 virus as well as other health and social services.
“As part of Nigeria’s COVID-19 response, the Federal government continues to prioritise Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) of healthcare workers through training, provision of information materials and protective equipment,” Dr. Shuaib said.
He said that the PPE provided to health workers in PHCs was to ensure that they have the required resources to protect themselves and their patients from the risk of spreading of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases.
“These will be distributed to selected PHCs across all 774 local government areas in Nigeria. The Federal Government of Nigeria remains grateful to its partners, especially Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and UNICEF for the collaboration in ensuring the protection of health workers“. He said.
The NPHCDA boss noted that the Federal government also remains committed to ensuring the health and safety of all Nigerians.
“As the NPHCDA continues to scale up Nigeria’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage, health workers are reminded of the need to practice universal care precautions at all times. Additionally, we urge members of the public to adhere to COVID-19 measures including wearing of face masks properly, covering nose and mouth, regular handwashing, avoiding large crowds, practicing a physical distance of at least two metres and getting vaccinated, if eligible”. He advised.
On his part, the UNICEF Country Representative in Nigeria, Dr Peter Hawkins, comnended the Presidential Steering Committee for its exemplary leadership in responding to the pandemic.
“UNICEF had been helping both the PSC, NCDC and NPHCDA with both equipment and support in terms of technical assistance. This particular consignment of PPEs, not only have we been procuring it on behalf of GAVI and the Government of Nigeria, but we will be distributing it to each one of the PHCs throughout the country“. Hawkins said.
He also promised that the UNICEF would continue to support Nigeria, while calling on Nigerian to take the opportunity and get vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus.
