Abuja, 27 February 2017 - The newly appointed Executive Director (ED) of National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr Faisal Shuaib, has informed the World Health Organization Country Representative (WR), Dr Wondimagegnehu Alemu, that the agency will implement a 4-point priority agenda towards reversing Nigeria’s poor health indicators and achieving positive outcomes. He noted that as Nigeria’s most important partner in the health sector, WHO’s contributions will be invaluable.

The NPHCDA is a parastatal of Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Health with the mandate to control preventable diseases, improve access to basic health services and improve quality of care. The agency achieves its goals by providing support to the implementation of the National Health Policy and mobilizing resources for the strengthening of primary health care (PHC) among others.

Disclosing his priorities to the WR and his team during a courtesy visit, Dr Shuaib pointed that the 4-prong agenda, includes changing the narrative about the NPHCDA. The reason for the current posture is to improve its image in alignment with the current administration’s zero tolerance for corruption and to rebuild the confidence of the international community of an efficient agency that donors will be comfortable to relate with. He assured the WR that henceforth, erring staff would be held accountable while those exhibiting high performance are to be rewarded accordingly.

Other key priorities according to Dr Shuaib will be on “achieving polio eradication; strengthening the routine immunization (RI) system; and revitalization of PHC in Nigeria”. The ED who demonstrated a resolute stance on the priorities, explained that the agency is in dialogue with the top echelon of the military hierarchy to ensure that eligible children in areas with insecurity in Borno are vaccinated.

Speaking on the priority aimed at strengthening RI, the ED mentioned that the agency would maximally utilize government’s social welfare scheme to build an unmatched Village Health Worker programme for making RI attractive through sustainable demand generation avenues. Dr Shuaib explained that the strategy for strengthening RI will seamlessly dovetail into stimulating the achievement of government’s vision of revitalizing PHC over the next couple of years.

In his response, Dr Alemu acknowledged the strong collaboration between WHO and the NPHCDA, which enabled WHO to provide the needed technical support towards overall achievement of set priorities. He restated that the government vision and priorities for revitalization of PHC towards universal health coverage, aligns perfectively with WHO’s role and also assured the ED that his priorities are in tandem with those of WHO.

He however highlighted that while it is noteworthy that Nigeria has gained tremendous traction globally with the positives and pacesetting strides including clear commitment of government, maintaining high-level commitment towards polio eradication, especially at state and LGA levels will be critical in interrupting polio transmission.

“WHO will support Nigeria on all fronts, especially our collective effort to reach all children including in inaccessible areas, with strong surveillance, as this will be a key yardstick towards achievement of polio eradication”, Dr Alemu stated.

The WR specifically asked the ED to tighten procedures on vaccine management, within the confines of global vaccine availability, and stressed the need for enforcement of strong accountability at all levels.

He further noted a window of opportunity to complete the unfinished work of the Millennium Development Goals, particularly on infant and maternal mortality reduction, with the collaboration with NPHCDA.

Key Programme Directors of NPHCDA and WHO Cluster Coordinators witnessed the first of many meetings and interactions between the WR and ED.

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Dr Fiona Braka; Tel: +234 703 170 5252; Email: brakaf [at] who.int (brakaf[at]who[dot]int)
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Below:

01. Dr Shuaib (right) speaking while Dr Alemu takes notes

02. Members of the EDs and WRs teams join them in a group photogaph