Some dignitaries and participants in a group picture
The Federal Government and its counterparts of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states have lauded the World Health Organisation (WHO) for its effective coordination of health responses to emergencies in North East.
They made the commendation on Monday in Maiduguri at the 12th End-term Joint Operations Review meeting organised for stakeholders by WHO in collaboration with the three states.
In his remarks, the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Enahire lauded the intervention of WHO and other partners in handling the emergency challenges in north east and reiterated the commitment of his ministry to sustain collaboration key partners.
Represented by the Director, Health Emergencies and Response, Dr Adegbite Olufunmilola, Enahire said the review meeting was vital to federal government as it would provided room to assess the response to the humanitarian crisis in north east and how to improve.
Also speaking, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajiya Sadiya Farouq commended intervention by WHO, adding that the ministry was also working hand in hand with International agencies and other partners to contain the challenges in north east.
Represented by Hajiya Zainab Dalhatu, Farouq said the ministry was also engaged in repatriation of refugees and linking them with thier families as well as supporting malnutrition in collaboration with ECOWAS.
She stressed the commitment of the ministry to improve access to humanitarian assistance to population in need.
In his speech, Borno Commissioner of Health, Dr Mohammed Arab, lauded WHO for its sustain support to the state, particularly in area of emergency preparedness.
“In the case of capacity building, WHO has supported us in area of training and retraining of our personnel and also training of manpower.
“As leading partner in health sector, WHO is actively supporting the good people of the state to the health ministry in coordinating activities with positive impact in health sector,” Arab said.
The commissioner who spoke on the state government support to health, said the sector was being strengthened to gradually take over ownership of laudable programmes of parners in the health sector.
The representatives of Adamawa and Yobe who spoke also listed the impact of WHO and partners in strengthening healthcare delivery in thier respective states.
In his message, the WHO Country Representative in Nigeria, Dr Walter kazadi reiterated the commitment of WHO is serving humanity.
“What we expect is not just providing hummanitarian response but also to build capacity of local communities so that they can take over on different aspect of our intervention.
“Its time to transform and transit towards building the capacities of our communities based on sustainable, political, economic, social and educational investment that can support our actions,” Kazadi said.
