German govt. pledges support for polio eradication

Thu, Sep 29, 2022
By editor
2 MIN READ

Health

THE German government has pledged continuous support for polio and other diseases eradication in Nigeria.

Mr Vincent El-Haidag, KfW Portfolio Manager, German Government Credit Institute for Reconstruction Mission, said this when they visited the traditional leader of Jiwa, FCT, Alhaji Idris Musa FCT.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) is an international organisation that works with its partners in developing countries.

According to him, the visit to the community was to understand the role of traditional leaders played in polio eradication efforts in the country.

He said the team was also interested in appreciating how the traditional institution was supporting COVID-19 vaccination efforts in Nigeria.

El-Haidag said that the partnership between Nigerian and German on polio eradication had been lasted for more than 20 years.

“ Our visit to Nigeria is to see the investments made on polio eradication, but we now see that the efforts have impacted routine immunisation and other diseases.

“We are here to see the results and also understand the driving sector in the success of polio eradication as we involve the inclusion of traditional leaders.

“We will take back whatever we gathered to our government including the challenges and way forward.

“This is because we are going to continue the support for the fight against diseases in the country especially polio eradication,’’El-Haidag said.

He said that the German government had always involved the traditional leaders in reaching out to the grassroots, saying that they were curial in the fight against the diseases.

According to him KfW has a formal obligation towards the government of Germany to verify the users of the financial contribution been given from their government to Nigeria.

Responding, Musa said he supported polio and routine immunisation campaigns in his community.

He told the visiting team that traditional rulers played a major role in dispelling misinformation about the safety of Oral Polio Vaccine in some parts of Nigeria.  (NAN)

C.E

Tags: