The National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), has applauded the appointment of Dr. Lola Dare of Chestrad International into the Transition Independent Monitoring Board (TIMB) of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI).
In a statement signed by the Executive Director of the NPHCDA, Dr. Faisal Shuaib, the Agency described Dr .Lola’s appointment as, “highly motivating for us as a PEI team and as Nigerians”
According to Dr. Faisal, the appointment is partly in recognition of the fact that Nigeria was one of the first polio endemic countries to commence Polio Transition Planning in 2015 stressing that, “since then, the country has been leveraging on polio infrastructure and resources to strengthen the Primary Health Care system.”
Dr. Faisal further noted that: “The country has been Wild Polio Virus (WPV) free for 46 months as the last WPV case was in August, 2016.
“The Nigerian Transition planning has completed asset mapping, documentation of lessons learnt from PEI and identified three core areas for transition including PHC revitalization, routine immunization and disease surveillance and outbreak response, consequently, the country has developed a business case for transition and will commence resource mobilization for its implementation post-COVID-19”
While describing the appointment as well deserved, Dr. Faisal noted that his agency was looking forward to Dr. Lola bringing her vast experience in public health and entrepreneurship to bear on the operations of the TIMB and be a strong voice for Nigeria and indeed Africa in GPEI.
