Tag Archives: Nigeria

Un-neglecting the Neglected

NTDs

 

From March 4th to 6th, 2014, The Ministry of Finance ran the “budget jam”; an online interactive session where they welcomed Nigerian Youth to discuss the 2014 budget and suggest new investment areas. This is a revised excerpt of a post sent in by Uzoma Nwankwo to the #budget2014jam.

In January 2012 the Federal Government partially removed subsidies on petroleum products. The accrued savings are shared annually among the three tiers of government (Federal, State and Local). The Subsidy Re-Investment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) was established to invest these savings to “better the lives of ordinary Nigerians” through, provision of social safety net programmes and transport infrastructure.

In 2014, SURE-P will re-invest a total of 268.37 billion Nigerian Naira ($1.68 billion). 27.32 billion Nigerian Naira ($170.8 million) of this will be invested in health related social safety nets for Nigeria’s poor through the “Saving One Million Lives Initiative”. The health programmes to benefit include: Maternal & Child Health, HIV/AIDS, Polio Eradication, Non communicable Diseases-Stroke. This is a “healthy” development, which shows that the Federal Government recognises the link between disease and poverty

Unfortunately, the Government has missed a major opportunity to accelerate the fight against poverty by not allocating SURE-P funds for the control and elimination of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs). Perhaps the board of SURE-P, the Coordinating Minister of the Economy (CME) and Minister of Finance; Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala may wish to know NTDs are worth investing in.

NTDs are a group of parasitic and bacterial infections that are the most common infections of the world’s poor. Nigeria has the highest burden of NTDs in the African continent. In fact, they are so common that we are likely to have everyday encounters with individuals affected by one or more NTDs.

Have you ever seen a child leading an older blind man (possibly caused by River blindness or Blinding Trachoma) begging on the streets for alms? Or an individual with huge disfigured limbs from elephantiasis? Are you aware of the painful plight of our children who pass blood in urine from bilharzias infection causing ridicule from society; who call them “menstruating boys”?

Only recently the current administration gave the final push to ensure Nigeria achieved a feat that was almost unthinkable in the 1980s; eliminating Guinea worm Disease (an NTD). Nigeria had the most cases globally at the time, but succeeded in eliminating GWD before many other countries. The right thing to do is to sustain this momentum on other NTDs.

As a country we cannot just watch and see our citizens suffer from debilitating conditions that are completely preventable, especially when inexpensive strategies exist to tackle these NTDs. The Federal Government should know that they have the unique decision making power that can enable Nigeria to significantly reduce its NTDs burden within five years.

I look at the SURE-P funds and I see hope for the common man. We stand a chance for success if the CME, the go-getter that she is, can target these NTDs for elimination as a true testament of the Government’s commitment to provide a social safety net for the poor. SURE-P targeted re-investments would make a monumental difference in the lives of all Nigerians burdened by NTDs. The opportunity to invest in the NTDs still exists, SURE-P need not wait until 2015 to rescue poor Nigerians from the cycle of poverty and disease.

NTD Workshop in Nigeria Equips States with Necessary Skills and Resources to Succeed

Africa, NTDs, WHO, , ,

 

Together with international partners and NGOs, the government of Nigeria has the potential to drastically expand and strengthen their neglected tropical disease (NTD) program to treat and protect its population from the devastating impact of NTDs. Nigeria bears the largest NTD burden within sub-Saharan Africa, but the country’s national plan to tackle NTDs has already laid the groundwork for controlling and eliminating these diseases by 2020. However, additional training, especially at the state level, will help Nigeria scale up and maintain a sustainable NTD program that could lead to the control and elimination of NTDs by 2020.

Nigeria’s geography poses a unique challenge in the fight against NTDs. For example, each Nigerian state possesses its own quasi-autonomous state ministry of health — each with its own integrated NTD program. With this challenge in mind, The World Health Organization (WHO) and partners developed a training program for the first week in February for the 36 Nigerian states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to provide representatives with the tools and technical skills needed to establish, scale up and sustain integrated NTD programs within their respective states. The training was supported by The Envision project, The United project, and was attended by state representatives, including federal ministers of health, members of federal NTD teams and zonal coordinators and NGO partners.

Highlights from the 5-day training were shared through Twitter, thanks to and RTIinterntional:

 

Throughout the training, facilitators from Nigeria and the U.S. led sessions on scaling up integrated MDA programs, monitoring and evaluation, data management and advocacy. The facilitators also went over some basic but essential tasks – including filling out the appropriate forms to apply for NTD medications.

During her session, Global Network senior program officer Wangechi Thuo stressed the importance of effective advocacy in creating sustainable NTD programs. She led participants through exercises, demonstrating how to effectively raise awareness about NTDs among key policy influencers with the goal of garnering sustained ownership, leadership, and commitment from governments and their partners for NTD programs

 

The training also brought together key government partners including Nigeria’s National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and the National Primary Health Care Development Agency. Together, partners discussed ways to better and more effectively distribute NTD medicine to populations in need. While Nigeria has the medicine necessary to treat its population, delivering the medicine to more than a hundred million Nigerians is a difficult task.

As the globe moves towards NTD elimination by 2020, Nigeria must remain a top priority given its large NTD burden. Thanks to this month’s NTD workshop, Nigeria’s government expects to see more and more people treated for NTDs, and more precise monitoring and evaluation of drug delivery in the coming year. Through continued government and partner support, Nigeria can see the end of NTDs. In the words of Dr. Bridget Okuaguale, Director of Public Health (DPH) at the Federal Ministry of Health, “We must work as a team, or we cannot go anywhere.”

Nigeria Declared Guinea Worm-free: An Encouraging Accomplishment

Africa, ,

 

Nearly three years ago, Nigeria reported the last case of Guinea worm disease, and this year, the World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared the country Guinea worm-free. When considered in tandem with Nigeria’s centenary celebrations, this encouraging declaration is further testament to just how far the nation has come in its fight against poverty, which Guinea worm has been found to exacerbate.

Referred to as a “scourge” by President Goodluck Jonathan, Guinea worm (dracunculiasis) is an ancient neglected tropical disease (NTD) spread by ingesting water contaminated by Guinea worm larvae. The larvae grow to be about one meter long and emerge through an excruciatingly painful blister on the skin after incubating for about 9-12 months in its host. In 1988, 653,492 cases of Guinea worm were reported in Nigeria, and 26 years later there are zero cases-a truly remarkable feat, thanks to the commitment of Nigeria’s government and international partners.

Moving forward, President Jonathan looks to harness the momentum generated from this success to address other endemic diseases in Nigeria, with a particular focus on wild polio, hoping that its transmission will be interrupted by the end of the year at the very latest.

While President Jonathan did not explicitly mention other NTD efforts during the WHO certification ceremony, it is important to note that he has already committed to seeing the end of these diseases (notably onchocerciasis, lymphatic filariasis, and schistosomiasis) as confirmed in his new year’s message.

The Nigerian government’s persevering commitment to disease elimination is encouraging, after having overcome the most expensive and challenging last mile of Guinea worm that are characteristic of any elimination campaign.

In Nigeria’s resolve lies hope for its African counterparts still in their last steps to eliminate the near-extinct disease, only 148 cases of which are still present across South Sudan (113), Chad (14), Mali (11), Ethiopia (7) and Sudan (3).

I congratulate President Jonathan and the people of Nigeria for their important achievement so far and encourage them to continue making NTDs a priority as we all seek to achieve the 2020 elimination goal!

Nigeria’s NTD Master Plan

NTDs

 

Earlier this week Nigeria launched a multi-year national plan for the control and elimination of neglected tropical diseases (NTD Master Plan). The NTD Master Plan provides a platform for Nigeria to stimulate global efforts to reach elimination and control of diseases under the The London Declaration and the  Millennial Developmental Goal 6. The launch event was held the same week with the Presidential Summit on Water, which included several key figures such as the Global Network’s NTD Special Envoy His Excellency John A. Kufuor (President of the Republic of Ghana, 2001-2009).

As a continent, Africa bears 50% of the global burden of NTDs and Nigeria bears the largest NTD burden within Sub-Saharan Africa. The country’s commitment to addressing NTDs highlights the importance of not only recognizing major health concerns, but also of simultaneously reducing poverty and improving the quality of life for Nigerians. Through past efforts, Nigeria has successfully eliminated guinea worm and has reached its goal to control river blindness. Furthermore, Nigeria’s Minister of Health, Professor C.O. Onyebuchi Chukwu, has refocused the target of river blindness from control to elimination to meet the mandate given to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) African Program for Onchoceriasis Control (APOC).

In order to provide treatment for more than 60 million affected individuals over the next five years, the plan requires USD $334 million (49 billion Naira). Officials emphasized that the success of the NTD Master Plan would largely be a result of rising partnerships among the public and private sector. The Minister of State for Health, Dr. Ali Pate, stated that an interactive commitment throughout the community would help in overcoming the global impact of NTDs and would assist in contributing to the country’s “Saving One Million Lives” initiative. Nigeria’s initiative sparks the beginning of a successful network of nations pledging to fight the global cause against NTDs.