Abuja, 8th April 2018 - The top hierarchy of the World Health Organization (WHO) will hold its Global Policy Group (GPG) Meeting in Nigeria for the first time from 10-12 April, 2018. 

The GPG consists of the Director-General, Deputy Director-General, six Regional Directors and the Executive Director of the WHO Emergencies Programme. The Group is an internal advisory mechanism to the Director-General (DG), established to ensure the coherent implementation of decisions, policies and strategies of WHO across all levels of the Organization.

Nigeria’s Honourable Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole, says, “Nigeria is honored to host the Director General and Regional Directors of WHO at this auspicious time”.

Professor Isaac Adewale said the presence of WHO’s top decision makers    provides opportunity for Nigeria to strengthen collaboration between the WHO and the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The WHO Director General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and Regional Directors are expected to pay a courtesy call on His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari to congratulate him on laudable efforts to improve the health and well-being of Nigerians, and the commendable aspiration of reaching over 100 million Nigerians with basic minimum package of primary healthcare services. 

Dr Tedros will carry out a full programme of activities including field visits to relevant health agencies such as NCDC, Model Revitalized PHC and is expected to hold discussions with, high-ranking government officials and key stakeholders. The discussions will focus on WHO’s technical support to strengthen the country’s health system to achieve the health related Sustainable Development Goals within the context of revitalization of PHC for universal health coverage and humanitarian response in the Northeast.

Whilst in Nigeria, the WHO DG will also launch the implementation of the Eliminate Yellow Fever Epidemic (EYE) Strategy in Africa on 10 April 2018.