The Nation Newspaper

Tag: National Primary Health Care Development Agency

  • President Buhari to inaugurate CHIPS in Lafia

    President Buhari to inaugurate CHIPS in Lafia

    The National Primary Health Care Development Agency ( NPHCDA ) says President Muhammadu Buhari will inaugurate the Community Health Influencers, Promoters and Services (CHIPS) programme in Lafia, Nasarawa State.

    A statement issued by Mr Saadu Salahu, Head, Public Relations Unit of NPHCDA, on Wednesday in Abuja, said the president would inaugurate the programme on Feb. 6.

    Salahu said the inauguration of the programme was a major part of activities lined up for the official working visit of the President to the state.

    CHIPS is one of the initiatives of Buhari’s administration and a critical component of Primary Health Care (PHC) Revitalisation programme, particularly in addressing challenges of human resources for health in the rural areas.

    Salahu quoted Dr Faisal Shuaib, Executive Director, NPHCDA, as saying that the overall aim of CHIPS Programme is to improve access and equitable coverage to essential health services.

    He said such essential health services include maternal, new born and child survival, among others.

    Salahu added that other objectives of the programme include addressing barriers to demand for primary health care services, ensuring supply of integrated PHC interventions.

    According to him, the programme also aim to link the health workforce at health centres in rural communities to the households and tackle delays in decision to seek care, accessing care and receiving adequate healthcare.

    Read Also: Killings threaten Nigeria’s sovereignty, says Buhari

    The News  reports that an average of 10 women per ward who posses minimum of elementary or secondary school education would be identified to participate in the programme.

    The identified women would be trained on basic health services such as provision of first aid, motivational talks, and promotion of hygiene and environmental sanitation in the community.

    The women would also conduct a house-to-house visit with the aim of improving ante-natal and other health services.

    According to Salahu, the programme will change the landscape of primary health care system.

    The agency would visit remote areas where people lack access to health care, the spokesman said.

    He disclosed that the trained women would not replace Community Health Extension Workers (CHEW) and Juniors Community Health Extension Workers (JCHEW) as the case may be.

    “What NPHCDA observed was that a lot of those who serve under CHEWs and JCHEWs are now resident in the health facilities and they don’t do extension work like it was originally planned,” Salahu said.

    NAN

  • FG flags off 2017/2018 national measles vaccination campaign

    FG flags off 2017/2018 national measles vaccination campaign

    The Federal Government will Tuesday flag off the 2017/2018 National measles campaign.

    Minister of State for Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire will flag off the campaign in Kaduna state.

    The Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr. Faisal Shuaib announced this in Abuja Monday in a statement issued by Mr.Saadu Salahu Head, Public Relation Unit, NPHCDA.

    Dr. Faisal said that a total of 33 million Nigerian children aged 9months to 59months are to be immunized against measles by the end of the campaign. He disclosed that 95% coverage is the Federal Government`s target for the 2017/2018 campaign, against the 84.5% coverage attained in the 2015 campaign.

    Read: FG to launch new Family Planning Campaign

    The Executive Director explained that the measles vaccine would be administered to children aged 9 months to 59 months at health centers, fixed health posts, churches, mosques, motor parks, public places, schools and homes.

    Dr. Faisal disclosed that a time table phasing and staggering the campaign had been introduced as part of the efforts to ensure highest quality, coverage and effective measles campaign in the country.

    According to him, North West Zone will conduct its own campaign from 9th to 21st of this month. It will be followed by the North East from 30th November to 12th December, 2017, while the North Central campaign will take place from 1st to 20th February, 2018. All states in the Southern part of the country will conduct their measles vaccination campaign from 8th to 20th March, 2018.

    Dr. Faisal described measles as a dangerous and infectious disease that spreads rapidly from one infected child to another and a major cause of blindness, malnutrition and death among children. He therefore appealed to all Parents, Guardians, Caregivers and Nigerians in general to make their children and wards available for the measles vaccination campaign.

    Among personalities expected at the flag off are the Executive Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, His Eminence, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Saad Abubakar III other traditional and religious leaders, members of the National Assembly, NGOs and Civil Society organizations.

    Read Also: Military not involved in vaccination – FG

  • UNICEF donates 1,000 doses of CSM drugs to FCT

    UNICEF donates 1,000 doses of CSM drugs to FCT

    The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has donated 1,000 doses of drugs to FCT Primary Health Care Development Board for the treatment of Cerebrospinal Meningitis (CSM) in Abuja.

    The Executive Secretary of the Board, Dr Rilwanu Mohammed, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Thursday.

    He explained that the drugs had been distributed to all General Hospitals and Teaching Hospital in the territory.

    According to him, World Health Organisation (WHO) also donated three stereotyping machines to carry out tests of CSM in FCT.

    He told NAN that those machines were distributed to Maitama General Hospital, Jabi Medical Centre and University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Gwagwalada.

    The secretary urged people living in Abuja to desist from self medication and report when they notice any sign of meningitis to the nearest hospitals.

    Mohammed said that so far six persons had died out of 10 suspected cases recorded in Abuja Municipal, Bwari and Kuje Area Councils.

    He said that he had exhausted the vaccines given to FCT but awaiting additional stocks from National Primary Health Care Development Agency for the continuation of Immunisation against meningitis.

    He said that his board had carried out immunisation in all the 22 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps in Abuja because of their vulnerability to the disease.

    The secretary enjoined residents of FCT not to panic, saying that the government was committed to tackling the spread of CSM in Abuja.

     

  • WHO delists Nigeria from polio list

    WHO delists Nigeria from polio list

    The World Health Organization (WHO) is set to formally pronounce the delisting of Nigeria as a polio endemic country before President Muhammadu Buhari.
    The event, which is slated for the State House, Abuja, on October 26 will see the country hosting the Director-General of WHO, Dr. Margaret Chan, who will be represented by WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Matshidiso R. Moeti.
    According to the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Health, Mr. Linus Awute, “The Regional Director will meet with Mr. President to formally announce to the Government of Nigeria the WHO’s decision to remove Nigeria from the list of Polio endemic countries, as a recognition of the immediate achievement of Nigeria in stopping the transmission of the Wild Polio Virus for a period of fourteen months, which has exceeded WHO’s target for interruption”.
    The Regional Director, Dr. Moeti, is also expected to emphasize to policy makers and major stakeholders, that despite tremendous progress in Nigeria, complacency is not a luxury at the disposal of the Government and partners until the gains of this great feat is sustained for two years to be able to achieve the certification of Nigeria as a Polio-free Nation by 2017.
    In order to boost population immunity of children between the ages of zero to five years, as well as achieve eradication status in 2017, Nigeria will continue to vaccinate children, irrespective of their previous immunization status.
    The President, Muhammadu Buhari, during his interface with the High Level Advocacy Team on Poliomyelitis, headed by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Health, emphasized that his administration “Would provide the necessary oversight over the Programme to ensure no child ever gets paralyzed again by Wild Polio Virus”.
    He therefore directed the Federal Ministry of Health and its Agency to come up with programme elements that would sustain the gains and maintain the momentum towards achieving a final certification.
    Consequently, the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), under the leadership of the Federal Ministry of Health, has developed a robust Polio Emergency Plan with corresponding roadmap detailing strategies to sustain the achievement.
    According to the Executive Director, NPHCDA, Dr. Ado Muhammad, “The Programme will continue to carry out high quality Polio campaigns, intensify routine immunization and enhance surveillance system, all aimed at sustaining the Polio zero case status of the Country”.
    He said that this is ‘critical’ to achieving eradication and attaining certification by 2017.