The committee is saddled with the responsibility of developing and implementing a health sector reform programme and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has been named as the chairman of the committee which will sit for six months.

Garba Shehu, senior special assistant to the president on media and publicity, released a statement to this effect on Monday.

The committee is expected to work in collaboration with the state governments and the federal capital territory (FCT) administration.

The statement reads: “This is sequel to a Health Sector Diagnostic Review Report developed by a consultant, Vesta Healthcare Partners and the Federal Ministry of Health.

“The committee will undertake a review of all healthcare reforms adopted in the past two decades and lessons learnt and factor them into the development of the new Health Sector Reform Programme.

“The committee which is set up for a period of six months under the Chairmanship of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has members drawn from private and public sector health care management professionals, development partners, representatives from the National Assembly as well as the Nigeria Governors Forum among others.

“Other members are: His Excellency Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, Governor of Delta State ; Dr. Osagie Ehanire, Honourable Minister of Health; Alex Okoh Director-General BPE; Prof Ibrahim Abubakar, a Professor in Infectious Disease Epidemiology at University College London and Director of the UCL Institute for Global Health; Babatunde Irukera, Director General, Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Council; Senator( Dr) Ibrahim Yahaya Oloriegbe; Dr. Adedamola Dada; Dr. Sani Aliyu; Dr. Mairo Mandara; Dr. Haliru Yahaya, Emir of Shonga; Professor Uche Amazigbo; Director Hospital Services, Federal Ministry of Health; Dr Faisal Shuaib; Prof Nasiru Sambo; Dr Ifedayo Morayo Adetifa; Dr Gambo Aliyu.

“Others in the committee are: Dr Betta Edu (Chairman Nigeria Health Commissioners Forum representing National Council on Health); President Nigeria Medial Association; President Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria; President National Association of Nigeria Nurses & Midwives; President Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria; Mrs Temi Marcella Awogboro; Dr. Muhammad Sadiq; Dr. Azubike Tagbo and World Health Organization, Nigeria.”

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Vesta Healthcare Partners will have observer roles in the committee.

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The innovative strategy, in furtherance of a vision from an earlier stakeholders’ roundtable, entails delivering one Primary Healthcare Centre (PHC) in each of Nigeria’s 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs) at global standards.

Under this private sector driven initiative, universal health access will be provided for low-income citizens residing in rural and urban areas through the Adopt-a-Health Facility Programme (ADHFP).

ADHFP, according to a release issued by the CEO of PSHAN, Mr. Sonny Nwarisi, will be sponsored by a group of Angel Investors and other institutions. These “Angels” will each take responsibility for one or more PHCs – they will build and operate the PHCs for the period of adoption under strict rules and guidelines. The ADHFP is a multi-impact initiative with several benefits including: Saving lives, Improvement in health outcomes, Job creation, and Gender empowerment

Aig-Imoukhuede and PSHAN recently initiated the ADHFP design phase which will be handled by Vesta Healthcare Partners, a global healthcare consultancy firm.

This consultancy engagement is expected to deliver key program components such as: Legal and Regulatory Framework, PPP Framework, PHC facility and management standards, Financing Arrangements, Governance Arrangements, Supply Chain Management, and Technology & Systems.

The design phase will involve active participation of notable development-focused organizations including: Global Citizen, ABCHealth, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, World Bank, International Finance Corporation (IFC), MTN Nigeria Plc, Dangote Group, Zenith Bank, Access Bank, Stanbic-IBTC Bank, PwC, Cisco, Ford Foundation, Nigerian Stock Exchange, and Flying Doctors Nigeria.

Others include Africa Practice, Cedar Advisory Partners, GBCHealth, Health Federation of Nigeria, Health Law, Eti-Osa Local Government, JNC International Ltd, Johnson & Johnson, Justice in Healthcare, Lagos State Government, MSD for Mothers, Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG), ONE Campaign, PharmAccess Foundation, Women-At-Risk International Foundation as well as the Lagos State Government and the SSA to the President on Sustainable Development Goals among others.

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According to the Gates, the “funding and global coordination will ensure” people all over the world are able to get the COVID-19 vaccine when they become available.

The commitment was announced at the Global Vaccine Summit 2020, hosted by Prime Minister Boris Johnson of the United Kingdom.

Funding secured today for Gavi’s next strategic period will help the Alliance reach an additional 300 million children in the world’s most vulnerable communities and save up to eight million lives, bringing the total number of children immunized with Gavi support to more than one billion since its inception in 2000.

In addition to supporting the continuation of routine immunization services during the current COVID-19 crisis, Gavi will play a vital role in efforts to end the pandemic, leveraging its two decades of experience in vaccine delivery to deploy potential COVID-19 vaccines to low-income countries when they become available.

“Not many people outside the global health sector have heard about Gavi, but over the past twenty years, it has transformed the way the world invests in and protects the health of its children,” Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said.

“If the current pandemic has reminded us of anything, it’s the importance of vaccinating against deadly diseases. The pledges that leaders are making today will help Gavi save even more lives.”

Working closely with developing country governments, vaccine suppliers, donors, and other partners around the world, the Alliance has achieved extraordinary results.

Yet, despite this unprecedented progress, one in ten children still did not receive basic vaccines in 2018. In addition, as COVID-19 disrupts health systems, supply chains, and the ability of health workers to safely reach communities, millions more are at risk of missing out on protection against vaccine-preventable diseases.

“To beat the COVID-19 pandemic, the world needs more than breakthrough science. It needs breakthrough generosity. And that’s what we’re seeing today as leaders across the public and private sectors are stepping up to support Gavi – especially Prime Minister Johnson,” Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said.

“When COVID-19 vaccines are ready, this funding and global coordination will ensure that people all over the world will be able to access them.”

The foundation has supported Gavi since its founding more than two decades ago. In that time, Gavi has immunized more than three-quarters of a billion children, saved 13 million lives, and cut child mortality in half in supported countries.

“As we enter one of the toughest periods in our history, with the COVID-19 pandemic disrupting vaccine programmes across the globe and causing huge economic damage, this pledge will play a vital role in supporting countries’ efforts to prevent the resurgence of other deadly, vaccine-preventable diseases.” Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, chair of the Gavi Board, said.

The Gates Foundation is also committing $100 million to Gavi’s new effort to purchase COVID-19 vaccines for lower-income countries through a new COVID-19 Vaccine Advance Market Commitment.

This includes $50 million of new funding announced today, as well as the foundation’s $50 million pledge that was made at the Coronavirus Global Response International Pledging Event in May.

Friday’s pledge also includes $75 million to the Gavi Matching Fund that was announced in January 2020.

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This is contained in a statement signed by the Chief Press Secretary to Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State, Malam Abba Anwar, on Saturday in Kano. ‎

‎According to the statement, Dangote and Gates reiterated their promises via a video teleconference on a mid-year review meeting on ‎strengthening strategic routine immunisation held at the Government House in Kano.

‎Anwar added that the two rich men also commended Ganduje, for being serious about health care delivery in the state.

They further reiterated commitment towards aiding many more success stories to come out from the state.‎

‎The statement also quoted the Executive Secretary of the state’s Primary Health Care Management Board, Dr Tijjani Hussaini, as saying that system strengthening efforts have evolved over the years with the primary aim of improving Primary Health Care (PHC) service delivery.‎

Hussaini said efforts were expanded from Routine Immunisation to broader health in agencies under the state’s ministry of health.

“By the year 2021, most public health programmes would have been covered by the Kano health system strengthening efforts.

“From January to June 2019, parts of our priority areas included scaling up of fruitful synergy between primary and secondary health facilities,” he said.‎

He said that their efforts ultimately resulted into rolling out a Phase 1 referral linkage between the two stages of the health facilities.

Among such priorities he mentioned included, assessing facilities operating the Drug Revolving Fund (DRF) scheme to validate compliance with the state’s guidelines.

According to him, assessment has been conducted in 132 health facilities with highest DRF transactions.

He said another milestone was the development and commencement of implementation of `Smart Integrated Community Engagement Plan for Health in all the 44 local government areas of the state,” he said.

He explained that the efforts led to community personnel being co-opted to support other important health programmes beyond the immunisation space.

“We now have a draft plan that has already been developed to further improve quality care. The draft only awaits finalisation now.‎

“The comparison of survey between administrative data, is indicative and suggestive to the explanation that there is very glaring improvement in quality administrative data,” he explained. ‎

‎He said Kano State had not recorded any case of wild polio virus since 2014, saying that only three environmental cases were identified in Tarauni LGA since the outbreak in July 2018.‎

‎According to Anwar, Ganduje commended Dangote, Gates and all other stakeholders for finding it worthy to support the state’s health sector.

He also said that his administration’s partnership with all stakeholders was being strengthened.

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Thirty years ago, polio paralyzed more than 350,000 children each year in more than 125 countries around the world. Thanks to the extraordinary efforts of governments, health workers, donors and the partners of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), a public-private partnership dedicated to ending the disease, the highly contagious virus has now been eliminated in all but three countries: Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan. There have been only five cases to date in 2017.

However, UNICEF says children remain at risk everywhere until polio is completely stopped. To end the disease for good, government representatives and partners came together to renew their commitment to supporting crucial activities such as vaccination and disease monitoring, which will protect more than 450 million children from polio each year.

“Thanks to the incredible efforts of Rotarians, governments, health workers, partners and donors – including those who have gathered at the Rotary Convention in Atlanta – we are closer than ever to making history,” said Chris Elias, Global Development President, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Chair of the GPEI Polio Oversight Board, adding that “These new commitments will help ensure that we will finish the job.”

In a time of many global challenges and priorities, governments and partners have stepped forward to demonstrate their collective resolve to seeing the second human disease ever eradicated.

Major pledges include $75 million from Canada, $61.4 million from the European Commission, $55 million from Japan, $30 million from Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, $30 million from the Dalio Foundation, $25 million from Bloomberg Philanthropies, $15 million from an anonymous donor, $13.4 million from Australia, $11.2 million from Germany, $5 million from easyJet, $5 million from Italy and $4 million from the Republic of Korea.

Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and John Germ, president of Rotary International, also announced an extension of their partnership in front of more than 20,000 Rotarians.

Up to $150 million in funds raised by Rotary members over the next three years will be matched 2:1 by the Gates Foundation, resulting in up to $450 million in the next three years for the GPEI. The Gates Foundation pledged a total of $450 million, including this matching agreement.

“The global eradication of polio has been Rotary’s top priority since 1985. Rotary members have been the driving force behind the fight to end polio since its inception,” said John Germ, President of Rotary International, stressing that “Their continued commitment to raising funds for eradication – coupled with today’s match by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation – makes that impact even greater.”

Monday’s funding helps address a $1.5 billion funding need that will help ensure that the virus is eliminated from these remaining countries and prevented from regaining a foothold anywhere else in the world.

“Constant innovation has been key to improving vaccination coverage and reaching more children with the polio vaccine,” said Dr. Anne Schuchat, Acting Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“The unrelenting commitment and support of these global leaders will help us do just that—and ultimately end this disease for everyone and forever. CDC remains deeply committed to polio eradication and has contributed $2.28 billion since the beginning of the initiative.”

Today’s funding commitments will enable the program to continue to improve performance and overcome challenges to reach every child, including vaccinating children in conflict areas.

“We are, together, truly on the verge of eradicating polio from the planet—but only if we work relentlessly to reach the children we have not yet reached,” said UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake. “We cannot fail to make this last effort. Because if we do not now make history, we will, and should be, judged harshly by history.”

Thanks to efforts to date, polio has been eliminated from some of the most remote and challenging areas in the world. For example, India – once considered the most difficult place in the world to stop the disease – hasn’t reported a case in more than six years.

More than 16 million children worldwide are walking today who would otherwise have been paralyzed by this disease, and polio resources in countries around the world are helping advance other national health goals.

“The key to ending polio will be to ensure that millions of health workers – some of whom work in the most challenging environments in the world – are able to reach every child, everywhere in the world,” said WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan. “Eradicating polio will be a perpetual gift to coming generations.”

Today’s contributions and the continued commitment of all donors and partners will help end this devastating disease and ensure that the infrastructure and assets used to fight polio lay the foundation for better health outcomes for children everywhere for years to come.

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Populations fleeing conflict are on the move within the sub-region, raising concerns that the virus could spread across borders. Nearly 39,000 health workers are deployed across Nigeria and neighbouring Chad, Niger, Cameroon and the Central African Republic to deliver polio vaccines in areas at high-risk for the virus during five rounds of coordinated vaccination campaigns across five countries.

UNICEF is procuring the vaccines and engaging the public through mass media and grassroots mobilization.

“The re-emergence of polio after two years with no recorded cases is a huge concern in an area that’s already in crisis,” said Manuel Fontaine, UNICEF Regional Director for West and Central Africa.

“The scale of our response reflects the urgency: we must not allow polio to spread.”

The ongoing conflict has now displaced 2.6 million people, devastated provision of healthcare and left more than four million people in north-east Nigeria facing crisis and emergency food security levels.

In the three worst-hit Nigerian states, 400,000 children will suffer from severe acute malnutrition this year.

Polio vaccination teams in parts of Borno state are conducting simultaneous malnutrition screening to identify cases of severe acute malnutrition in children under five and refer malnourished children to treatment programmes.

Findings from the first rounds of outreach screening have confirmed high rates of severe acute malnutrition.

“Children are dying and more young lives will be lost unless we scale up our response,” said Fontaine. “Through the polio vaccination drive, we can protect more children from the virus while also reaching children in need with treatment for malnutrition.”

The third round of the current polio campaign runs from 15-18 October with additional rounds scheduled in November and December.

The immunization campaign is being delivered by national governments, with support from UNICEF, the World Health Organization, Rotary International, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The coordinated efforts between the polio vaccination campaigns and childhood nutrition screenings are part of UNICEF’s scaled-up response to the crisis.

However, UNICEF’s response remains hampered by continued insecurity, especially in areas of Borno state in Nigeria, and by a lack of funding. Of the $158 million needed for UNICEF’s emergency response in the region, only $50.4 million has so far been received.

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Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbeh who disclosed this on Wednesday in Ibadan reiterated the Federal Government’s full commitment to cassava integration into bread production as part of the import substitution policy.

Ogbeh who was represented at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, on the occasion of the formal launching and 1st general planning meeting of African Cassava Agronomy Initiative (ACAI), by South West Regional Director of in the Ministry, Comfort Adedoyin Awe, lamented the high cost of import bills on wheat to the Federal Government explaining that Nigeria currently spends a whooping sum of N635 billion annually on the importation of wheat.

ACAI is aimed at improving the livelihoods and incomes of cassava farmers in Nigeria, Ghana, Tanzania, Uganda and DR Congo by researching and tapping into and implementing best-bet agronomic practices.

However, with this new policy, the minister stated that it would boost employment generation in the sector and reduce the country’s import bills.

“The Federal Government’s focus now is on cassava flour with a view to reducing import bills on wheat thus creating more employment in the sector.

“Under the arrangement, the Federal Government is also out to make the farmers happy. Once the farmers are happy, the nation will be happy.”

Speaking earlier, the ACAI Project Coordinator, Abdulai Jalloh from Senegal explained that the project which is led by the IITA with funding support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will specifically improve cassava yields, cassava root quality, cassava supply to the processing sector, and fertilizer sales, thereby engaging over 100,000 households in Nigeria and Tanzania, and facilitating the engagement of at least 30 per cent women farmers.

Also speaking, the IITA Director for Central Africa, Bernard Vanlauwe commended the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for supporting the project with 14.4million dollars for five years commencing from 2016.

Vanlauwe said: “The value of benefits from this project in Nigeria and Tanzania is projected to be over $27 million.

Furthermore, through engagement of households in Ghana, Uganda, and DR Congo and through extra interest generated in the products developed by the project, these figures are expected to increase for at least 150,000 households and a value created of at least 40 million USD within the 5-year time frame of the project.”

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Describing the gallant efforts of the two foundations as rare, the Minister for Health. Prof. Issac Adewole expressed satisfaction that the country is now free of Polio, courtesy of the interventions of the two foundations and assured that the Federal Government will do all within her powers to ensure that the country remains polio free for ever.

Meanwhile, the two foundations also on Thursday in Abuja announced a combined commitment of $100 million, (N30 billion) over the next five years (2016-2020) towards ending undernutrition in Nigeria. This commitment is expected to improve the lives of at least five million families by 2020.

The new commitment was announced by Aliko Dangote and Bill Gates during a joint press conference in Abuja, Nigeria.

Despite rapid economic growth, Nigeria is home to the highest number of stunted children in Africa and the second highest globally.

Almost one in five Nigerian children is acutely malnourished and more than one in three children suffer from stunting.

With its vital role in child health, growth and cognitive development, better nutrition will be essential to unleashing the potential of Nigeria’s next generation.

“Nutrition is one of the highest impact investments we can make in Nigeria’s future growth and prosperity. We know that well-nourished children are more likely to grow up to be healthy, fend off preventable diseases, achieve more in school and even earn higher income as adults,” said Bill Gates.

“This partnership builds on our foundation’s strong commitment to Nigeria – one of several countries where we are working closely with the government, the private sector and civil society to improve health and development outcomes.”

In a joint statement, the two foundations said they will begin a joint planning process to determine the details of the partnership.

Programmes will include community-based approaches and proven interventions linked to behaviour change, fortification of staple foods with essential micronutrients, the community management of acute malnutrition and investments in the local production of nutritious foods.

A key objective will be improving the livelihoods of households by supporting nutrition-sensitive agricultural programs that can increase family income, improve diets and empower women and youth.

The two foundations also welcomed the increased political attention to undernutrition in Nigeria and noted that leadership will be critical to future progress.

“In the spirit of our new partnership, we encourage even more deliberate and significant commitments from the Government of Nigeria at all levels to step up investments in nutrition. It is time to make strategic investments in interventions to eliminate malnutrition in Nigeria.

“This will be achieved through a massive scale-up of interventions, matched with effective coordination of efforts and innovative sustainable solutions. We have to ensure that children who are already malnourished receive help and are prevented from dying while we improve the conditions that led to them being malnourished in the first place’,” said Aliko Dangote.

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Of this amount, a whopping sum of N1.2 billion is spent annually on a feeding project, a special purpose vehicle designed by the Foundation to reduce hunger and extreme poverty among the down trodden in the state.

The Foundation CEO made these disclosures at a meeting with the state governor, Rabiu Musa Kwakwanso, during a working visit to Kano State.

The revelation was greeted with applause by the state governor who commended Dangote Foundation, its founder, Aliko Dangote and the management for their interest in seeing that Kano state is transformed in line with the policy direction of the government.

Youssoufou explained that her team was in Kano to monitor the various on-going projects being undertaken by the Foundation, assess their stages of completion and ensure they are in conformity with design and expectation of the people they are meant for.

She assured the governor that Dangote Foundation is a global institution and would not but ensure that all the projects are of international standard, adding that some of the projects are being redesigned in line with new developments and realities.

According to Youssoufou, the Foundation’s Micro-Grant pogramme for empowerment for women and other vulnerable groups in the state has gulped about N880 million, with 88,000 women so far benefitting from it while the Animal Traction Programme executed through a revolving loan to farmers, has cost the Foundation some N160 million.

In the areas of provision of clean water, the CEO explained that the Dangote Foundation has contracted out the construction of Borehole facilities for 220 communities across the 44 Local Government Areas of the State at the cost of N110 million.

So far, she stated that the first set of 66 boreholes across six LGAs have being completed for the use of the people of the areas.

While extolling the developmental strides of the Kano State Government, she expressed happiness that the collaboration between Dangote Foundation and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on Routine Immunization and Polio Eradication in the state has turned out fruitful.

On the partnership, Youssoufou disclosed that Dangote Foundation contributed over N600 million to strengthen Routine Immunization and Primary Health Care over the last three years.

In addition, about N72 million contract has been awarded for the construction of 11 units of Primary Health Care Centres across 11 Local Government Areas of Kano State.

In an interview with newsmen, the Foundation boss said it has also done a lot in education section in the state, pointing out that the Foundation had expended N55 million in the on-going construction of hostels at the Kano University of Technology Wudil while in the same vein, the on-going construction of the Business School in Bayero University, Kano, is gulping N524 million from the Foundation purse.

“We have commenced the construction of a State-of-the-Art Operating Theatre and Diagnostic Centre at the Murtala Muhammad hospital, Kano and is estimated at N440 million. For students of the University in Wudil, we are currently building hostels that will cost us N55 million”, she noted.

While reiterating the Foundation’s commitment to the development of Kano State, she said the Dangote Foundation has been partnering with Kano State Government on several other development projects not captured in the catalogue of projects being reeled out.

The Kano state governor was full of appreciation to the Foundation for its development agenda for the state and assured the Foundation that all the projects when completed would be adequately maintained.

He said the Dangote Foundation has done so much for Kano in the last four years especially in the area of polio eradication, which the state is grateful for.

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Forbes said in the report that Gates, who had been in the 16th position in the past 21 years, had an estimated fortune of $79.2 billion, $3.2 billion more than last year’s.

Forbes noted that his net worth grew in spite of a gift in November of $1.5 billion of shares in Microsoft to his charity, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

“Telecommunications magnet, Carlos Slim of Mexico is in the second spot again, while star U.S. investor, Warren Buffett, is third.”

The magazine, which compiled the list for 29 years, said it found a record 1,826 billionaires in the world in 2014 and 290 were newcomers, including 71 from China.

The average net worth of people on the list is $3.86 billion, which the magazine says is down $60 million from the 2014 average.

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