US partners FG on enhancing health emergency response

US President Barack Obama

The Federal Ministry of Health is working with the United States of America to enhance the country’s capacity for emergency response and management. Country Director, U.S. Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Dr. Hank Tomlinson led a delegation to the ministry’s permanent secretary, Mr. Linus Awute, in Abuja for more deliberations on the partnership.

Awute said the partnership was under the Ebola/Global Health Security Programme and is aimed at protecting and strengthening public health security, systems and capacity in Nigeria, adding, that it will be implemented based on strategic health priorities and collective national values.
He said the role played by the US-CDC and other partners in the war against Ebola in Nigeria will remain evergreen, such as the setting up of Emergency Operation Centres (EOC).
He said insurgency cannot be separated from health matters because it impacts heavily on health and the country is in dire need of blood to respond to emergencies in these communities.
“In the North-east there is a heavy load of service demand at the hospitals. Our national blood transfusion service is having challenges because no one anticipated what we are facing now. We have planned our services based on the rate of internal service demand but have some challenges and that underscores the importance of this visit,” he said.
The permanent secretary said ever since President MuhammaduBuhari visited the United States there has been an upsurge in the number of partners willing to key into the country’s health system.