Nigeria News

Abuja, 12 May 2015- The World Health Organization Country Representative (WR), Dr Rui Gama Vaz has advised the government of Nigeria to consider sustainable funding options for immunization that promote equity and ensure the poor are not disproportionately burdened.

He gave the advice in his speech at a media roundtable in Abuja on 12 May, 2015, organized by the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) to deliberate on the vaccine financing as part of events to seal  the 2015 Africa Vaccination Week.

Abuja, 19 May 2015 - Nigeria has made significant progress towards the interruption of polio viruses with no confirmed case in 2015 and nine months have elapsed since the last case of wild poliovirus (WPV) was confirmed. Similarly, the latest confirmed circulating vaccine derived polio virus (cVDPV) was isolated six months ago.

However, this gain is threatened by cVDPV in the environment of Kamacha River in Zaria of Kaduna state in March 2015 and in Sokoto South Local Government Area (LGA) in Sokoto state in 2014.

Abuja, 25 May 2015- The Commissioners for Health in Imo and Kaduna States have extolled the partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO) in Nigeria during the first quarter meetings of the Immunization, Vaccines and Emergencies (IVE) cluster in the Southern and Northern zones, conducted from 18 - 23 May, 2015.

Abuja, 01 June 2015-The World Health Organization (WHO), in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) and National Primary Healthcare Agency (NPHCDA), conducted a two week monitoring and programme support mission to Abia and Niger States on the Rapid Access Expansion (RAcE)   2015 project from the 12—22 May as part of routine activities to ensure quality of implementation.

Kano, Nigeria 09 June 2015 - Newly sworn-in Governors of Kano and Sokoto, Nigeria’s very high risk polio states, have promised to surpass the gains recorded by their  predecessors  in a renewed commitment to stamp out the paralyzing disease from the traditional ‘polio sanctuaries’.

The latest case of wild polio virus (WPV) in Nigeria was reported from Sumaila LGA of Kano state on 24 July 2014 while Sokoto had circulating vaccine derived polioviruses in the environment in 2014.

Abuja, 11 June 2015 - The World Health Organization (WHO) has joined the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) and United Nation’s Population Fund (UNFPA) in the grant signing ceremony of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) of funded humanitarian programme titled “Integrated Humanitarian Assistance for North East Nigeria” held in Abuja on 11 June 2015.

Abuja, 13 June 2015 - The World Health Organization (WHO) has coordinated immunization activities to support Adamawa State to immunize 68,495 under five children from 687 previously unreached settlements due to insecurity during the 6-9 June, 2015 sub-National Immunization Plus Days (sNIPDs), out of which, 646 were receiving oral polio vaccine (OPV) for the first time.

Abuja, 14 June 2015 - States in the North West of Nigeria comprising  Jigawa,  Katsina, Kebbi and Sokoto, sharing international borders with the Republic of Niger, have administered oral polio vaccine to 24, 952 children aged  0-59 months during the sub-National Immunization Plus Days (sNIPDs) conducted from 6-9 June 2015 to boost the immunity of populations living in border settlements.

Abuja, 15 June 2015 - Nigeria joined the rest of the world in marking the  2015 World Blood Donor Day, which commenced  with a procession along Shehu Shagari Way in  Abuja  dubbed “walk for life”, followed by a press briefing  on Saturday, 13th June 2015. The procession was led by the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Health, Mr. Linus Awute.

Abuja, 22 June 2015 - The World Health Organization (WHO) in Nigeria has successfully concluded two separate workshops in Abuja from 15-20 June, 2015. The workshops addressed different themes aimed at building capacity towards supporting the country in its drive to provide the required human resources for the attainment of the highest level of health by all Nigerians; and to document best practices that are contributing towards the goal of achieving interruption of polio transmission in Nigeria.