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‘3,000 Nigerian women, children die daily from preventable diseases’

By Chukwuma Muanya, Assistant Editor
10 July 2017   |   4:33 am
The Executive Director of National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Faisal Shuaib, has said nearly 3,000 women and under-five children die daily from preventable diseases in Nigeria.

The Executive Director of National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Faisal Shuaib, has said nearly 3,000 women and under-five children die daily from preventable diseases in Nigeria.

Speaking at the weekend in Abuja during the inauguration of a special committee to convene a national submit on Primary Health Care (PHC) for next month, he noted that the move was to develop a consensus and commitment on strategies to urgently revamp the centres as well as mobilise the needed resources to achieve the goal.

Shuaib regretted that the fatalities were still being recorded despite efforts by the agency, state primary healthcare boards, local councils, professional associations, the academia as well as civil society organisations, traditional leaders and the private sector.

He said that the two-day event would also serve as a platform for cross-fertilisation of ideas among stakeholders saddled with the responsibility of promoting primary healthcare in the country.

Shuaib gave the committee eight-point terms of reference which include agreement on a suitable theme and expected outcome; programme for the summit as well as identifying and securing seasoned speakers for the session.

Others are to recommend members of the subcommittee and report to the Executive Director on all issues related to the summit.

Shuaib identified significant gaps in technical coordination, system planning and integrated approach to policy implementation as some of the challenges facing the agency and its partners in the achievement of its mandate on PHC.

He, therefore, charged all stakeholders to give the committee all the support it requires to succeed.

The Deputy Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Health, Mohammed Usman, assured the agency of the backing of the National Assembly, stressing that the panel had been involved in advocacies to improve primary healthcare delivery.

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