This entry in our series on “Vaccines: The Next 10 Years” comes from Muhammad Pate of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency in Nigeria:
I think making the next ten years of vaccines successful will require two main efforts: first, the billions of poorer populations in our world today should have access to the most basic services, with immunization through vaccines being top priority. The reality of our world today is that, for millions of people, if all it takes to prevent diseases is a clean cup of water, they will not be able to get it today. Countries that are not able to demonstrate progress in the next ten years in providing basic services to their populations, immunization being proxy indicator, should receive similar treatment as those denying fundamental human rights to their populace; second, there should be intensified efforts to increase population awareness around vaccine safety and efficacy. I believe that no parent would knowingly allow her child to miss a vaccine that is accessible if she knows it will benefit the child.
Nigeria has more than 20,000 rural health facilities that ought to be the retail outlets for basic services including immunization to the majority of Nigeria’s 150 million people. We at the National Primary Health Care Development Agency are working to ensure development of a system to deliver quality basic health services in a sustainable way in Nigeria through the rural facilities.
Immunization is the first priority for my agency, because it is cost-effective. I am working with the team here to ensure rural health facilities are supported by their State and Local Governments with basic equipment, essential drugs and human resources while we are transforming the vaccine cold chain and ensuring reliable supply of vaccines to all the facilities. We are also working closely with indigenous institutions that have far more reach and legitimacy than local governments to mobilize populations to ensure all children are immunized as a routine. These efforts have begun yielding results in that we have reduced unimmunized children by 34 percent in 2009 compared to 2008 according to UNICEF/WHO reports and drastically reduced circulation of wild polio virus.
After dissolving Nigeria’s cabinet last week, Goodluck Jonathan has named 33 ministerial nominees. The BBC reports:
The list [of nominees] contained some surprise names, such as Olusegun Aganga, a banker who works for Goldman Sachs in the UK.
The list, which still needs to be approved by the senate, contained just nine ministers from the former cabinet.
Mr Jonathan has taken over as acting leader while President Umaru Yar’Adua recovers from a serious illness.
Mr Yar’Adua was taken to hospital in Saudi Arabia last November and, although he has since returned to Nigeria, he has not been seen in public since.
Mr Jonathan is battling to fill a power vacuum that has been plaguing Nigerian politics since Mr Yar’Adua fell ill.
The list of nominees, which includes one of Mr Yar’Adua’s nephews, Alhaji Mutallab Yar’Adua, is not expected to be the complete number of ministers in the new cabinet.
Mr Yar’Adua’s cabinet had 42 members, and Mr Jonathan is expected to propose more names later.
The ongoing string of violence currently taking place in Nigeria has garnered a lot of attention this week. According to reports, hundreds have been murdered after a a machete-wielding Muslim group launched an attack on a mostly Christian town south of Jos.
CNN has a helpful “Explainer” piece exploring the motivation behind the chaos and the Nigerian government’s response.
AllAfrica.com reports that acting president Goodluck Jonathan has appointed a new National Security Adviser, but sources claim it is not related to the recent violence.
As you know, President Yar’Adua recently returned to Nigeria after spending months in Saudi Arabia receiving medical treatment. The State Department has weighed in on the development, both in a briefing by Johnnie Carson who just returned from a trip to Nigeria, and a statement by Philip J. Crowley (video below, beginning at about 7:30).
Key line:
Nigeria, at this point, needs a strong and effective leader to ensure the stability of the country and to manage Nigeria’s many political, economic, and security challenges. So we are in – we have been focused on this issue ever since President Yar’Adua was stricken ill, and we have tremendous concern about stability. And our message to all of the players in Nigeria is make sure that this moves forward in a stable, constitutional, and democratic way.
Many reports this morning on the mysterious return of Nigerian President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. He had been abroad receiving medical treatment for about 3 months.
CNN’s Paul Armstrong has a good rundown of some of the remaining questions in light of this recent turn of events:
Why did President Yar’Adua leave Nigeria?
Yar’Adua went to Saudia Arabia in November to be treated for inflammation of tissue around the heart, a condition that was diagnosed after he complained of chest pain.
Yar’Adua, 58, said at the time he did not intend to resign while in Saudi Arabia, but no further news came from the president for almost two months until January 13, when he gave the BBC an interview from his hospital bed.
In a frail voice, he sought to assure his countrymen that he was getting better and intended to return soon to power.
What was the reaction in Nigeria?
Until Jonathan’s appointment, Africa’s most populous nation had been on the brink of a constitutional crisis that threatened to bring the country to a standstill at a time when it is facing a number of challenges, not least the insurgency in its oil rich Niger Delta region.
Some observers said Yar’Adua’s absence created a power vacuum, while demonstrators took to the streets of the nation’s capital, Abuja, to demand a constitutional order on his absence and evidence about his true state of health.
Nobel Prize winner for literature, Wole Soyinka, even accused the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) of taking advantage of the president’s absence. “The issue is that certain elements within the ruling party love this hiatus, they love the headlessness of government because they can proceed to loot and create their own little empires while the president is away,” he said.
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