Nigeria News

Abuja 05 September, 2014 - The Chairman and members of the Expert Review Committee (ERC) on Polio eradication and Routine Immunization for Nigeria which comprises global and local experts on polio eradication on Wednesday, 3rd September, 2014 endorsed local innovations  to launch an "all-out" effort to finish wild poliovirus (WPV) in Kano, the only state with on-going transmission, in order to end the fight against the paralyzing disease. 

Abuja 09 September, 2014 - Every year, thousands of children mostly under five years of age die from vaccine preventable diseases in Nigeria. The National Routine Immunization Strategic Plan (2013 – 2015), stipulates that 40% of the childhood deaths are attributed to vaccine preventable diseases such as measles, neonatal tetanus, hepatitis etc.  Some factors contributing to such alarming death rates is inequity in health services provision.

Lagos, 12th September, 2014 - The WHO Country Representative in Nigeria, Dr. Rui Gama Vaz,  has conveyed the gratitude of development partners for the assistance rendered to the Nigerian government by the Dangote Foundation in providing financial support for the setting-up and running of the National Ebola Emergency Operations Center in Lagos and for the Foundation’s readiness to support Public health emergencies with adequate resources.

Lagos 12th September, 2014 - The Lagos State Governor, His Excellency Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), the State that recorded the first Ebola case in Nigeria, has emphasized that in spite of the laudable achievements publicized about the response in many quarters “our recent experience with the Ebola virus disease has taught us a lesson that the disposition of complacency is not a luxury available to us” as long as the West African sub-region is not declared free from the Ebola scourge.

Abuja 16th September, 2014 - The National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) in conjunction with partners, including World Health Organization, Nigeria have  developed a 3-year National Routine Immunization Strategic Plan 2013-2015. One of the objectives of the strategic plan is to strengthen EPI related capacity of the country’s frontline health workers.

Abuja, 17th September, 2014 - His Excellency Kadré Désiré Ouedraogo, the President of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has re-affirmed that the  Commission is interested in expanding  collaboration with WHO in the sub-region given the exemplary role played by the Organization in containing the Ebola virus disease (EVD) in West-Africa, particularly in Nigeria.

Abuja, 17th September, 2013 - The Memorandum of Understanding for the one million-dollar ($1m) African Development Bank (AfDB) grant towards cushioning the effect of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in Nigeria has been signed during a well-attended event at the Federal Ministry of Finance Headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday, 16th September, 2014.

Abuja, 26th Septembers, 2014 - The drum-beats and the sounds from the algaitas (trumpets) reverberate in the communities to herald the arrival of the vaccination teams, trigger the extraordinary flow of children out to the streets, mothers/ caregivers peeping through the doors and over the low fences of the compounds to have a glimpse of the Directly Observed Polio Vaccination (DOPV); essentially the administration of OPV to eligible children and distribution of appropriate attractive pluses like milk sachets, soap, candies and whistles, under the watchful eyes of senior supervisors.

Abuja, 17 October, 2014 - The January 2012, Global Polio Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) report delineated four distinct polio virus “sanctuaries” in Nigeria, ‘places in which polioviruses had taken safe refuge’. The sanctuaries in the northern states were Borno (Borno- Yobe), Kano (Kano-Kaduna-Katsina) and Sokoto and Zamfara; homes to two-thirds of the polio cases detected in that year. 

Abuja 20 October, 2014 - The World Health Organization, today, 20th October, 2014 officially declared Nigeria Ebola-Free, having passed the mandatory period with no new cases;  42 days after  the  last confirmed case of the virus was discharged from the hospital, giving sufficient confidence to declare the outbreak over.