Abuja, 08 July 2015 - The third generation of World Health Organization (WHO) Country Cooperation Strategy (CCSlll) 2014-2019, has been launched by the permanent secretary in the Federal Ministry of Health, Mr. Linus Awute in Abuja on 07 July, 2015.

The five year CCSlll will focus on five strategic objectives: strengthening the health systems; promoting and scaling up priority interventions; addressing communicable and non-communicable diseases; health emergencies; and promoting partnership coordination and resource mobilization.

Mr Awute who delivered the keynote address observed that “since the first edition and institutionalization of the CCS in 2000, WHO has articulated its strategic agenda at the country level, fostered strategic thinking and internal coherence within its organization”.

He further acknowledged that, “as a leading partner in the health sector and drawing on the comparative advantage of WHO, Nigeria has recorded some significant and sustainable progress in its health indices”. Some of the achievements he enumerated at the occasion in which  WHO played critical  roles included the  certification of Nigeria as free of guinea worm, the containment of Ebola virus disease in 2014 and the interruption of the  polio virus.

The WHO country representative, Dr Rui Gama Vaz had earlier in his welcome address, reiterated that the CCSlll crystallizes the major reform agenda adopted by the World Health Assembly with a view to strengthening the organization’s  capacity and making its deliverables more responsive to country needs.

According to him, “the CCSlll aims at achieving greater relevance of WHO’s technical cooperation and focuses on identification of priorities and efficiency measures in the implementation of the WHO programme budget”. He added that “It takes into consideration, the role of different partners including non-state actors in providing support to governments and communities”.

In their separate goodwill messages at the event, representatives of the United Nations Resident Coordinator and Country Representative of Unicef, National Planning Commission, the European Union and non-governmental organizations who congratulated the WHO on the launch and gave assurances of maximizing  the opportunity for greater collaboration with WHO within the framework of the  CCSlll in Nigeria.

Nigeria Country Cooperation Strategy 2014-2019

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For more information, please contact:

Technical contacts:

Dr Eileen Petit-Mshana;; Tel: +234 807 759 0066 ; Email: petitmshanae [at] who.int (petitmshanae[at]who[dot]int)
Dr Mollent Akinyi Okech; Tel: +234 706 631 4825; Email: okechm [at] who.int (okechm[at]who[dot]int)
Media contact:

Ms Charity Warigon; Tel: +234 810 221 0093; Email: warigonc [at] who.int (warigonc[at]who[dot]int)