Buhari okays hosting of int. summit on primary healthcare

President Muhammadu Buhari has granted approval for Nigeria to host an international summit on Primary Health Care (PHC).

Daily Trust gathered that health managers were fine-tuning details of the global summit which is expected to leverage efforts in kicking the wild polio virus out of the country, and also build on milestones attained in managing the coronavirus pandemic.

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The summit would hold in Abuja between the end of October and early November in actualisation of the promise made earlier by the Executive Director of  the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Faisal Shuaib.

The agency had engaged with the heads of community medicine departments of universities to discuss and receive critical feedback on prevailing issues of interest to primary health care development in Nigeria.

The summit aligns with the agenda of the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire on addressing the inadequacy of primary health care services across the country.

The summit would also rally the support of the Coalition Against COVID-19, CACOVID – the private sector-led organization assembled by the Central Bank of Nigeria to assist the federal government in combating COVID-19.

Last August, Nigeria attained wild polio-free status after meeting all the criteria for certification, which include three years of non-detection of any wild polio virus case in the country.

At a meeting with federal lawmakers, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Boss Mustapha, had said that COVID-19 provided a unique opportunity to x-ray the state of Nigeria’s health care sector which is in dire need of reforms and funding.