The Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Ali Pate has said Nigeria accounts for 30 per cent of the world’s malaria burden with Kano State being one of the highest.
This came as The Global Fund, GF, said it was committing over $50 million to tackle malaria and other diseases in Kano State.
Prof. Pate who spoke yesterday when he and a delegation of Global Health partners paid a working visit on Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf of Kano State, said the global health partners were in the country to work towards improving the health and well being of Nigerians.
While soliciting for the support of the government at all levels on counterpart funding to compliment each other’s efforts, he said “We (along with our visitors) are here in Kano State as the first state we have decided to go to engage with leaders like you in order to improve the health of our population.
“Improved health is an investment in any society because that is the only investment that can guarantee productive, prosperity and investment. Health is at the centre of any serious country’s development agenda and our president Bola Ahmed Tinubu has taken the bold move and in expectations, the Federal government is ready to partner and work with states towards improving the health population of the country so that we can unleash the population’s potential. Effectious diseases like malaria, we have almost 30 per cent of the world’s burden of malaria and Kano is one of the highest burden states.
“So it is so important, that some of the good works that are being done by Kano need to be sustained or expanded with the intervention from the Global Health Partners. The partners have seen the picture of things and they are ready to support Nigeria, only if the states are committed to work together to achieve the objectives,”
On the $1billion fund, the Executive Director of GF, Mr. Peter Sands said it would investing $1 billion in the next three years in the country out of which $50 million would be spent in Kano State.
According to him, “From Global Fund perspective, Kano is very important. We will invest about a billion dollars ($1 billion) in Nigeria in the next three years and 50 million of that will be invested in Kano. Nigeria does have the highest burden of malaria in the world with 200,000 Nigerians (mainly children and pregnant women) dying of malaria. Malaria is an evitable disease. Global Funds is fully behind you in your effort to beat these diseases, improve the health and welfare of the people of Kano.”
Similarly, the World Health Organization, WHO Country Representative in Nigeria, Dr. Walter Kazadi, expressed the WHO readiness to support Nigeria to eradicate the killer disease, and the Kano State government over its rapid response to arrest the diphtheria outbreak, describing it as an exemplary role model in the fight against the disease.
On his part, Governor Yusuf, said “Your intervention at this material time was very timely, I commend the efforts of developing partners, especially in the fight against HIV, tuberculosis, malaria and other diseases.
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