Nigeria Receive $125million Loan From World bank

The Minister of Health in Nigeria, Prof. Isaac Adewole, on Thursday said Federal Government had obtained a 125-million-dollar loan from World Bank to fight the cases of polio and other health challenges in the Nigeria. Prof Adewole announce these while briefing the Senate Committee on Primary Health and Communicable Diseases in Abuja. Minister said that with support of the National Assembly, 60 million dollars would be earmarked for polio, while 65 million dollars would be used for the procurement of vaccines. He also stated that N10 billion had been released by the Federal Government from the 2016 budget to tackle the infectious disease. While decrying the fresh outbreak, the minister explain that about N30 billion would be required to face the menace. He said that following the outbreak, no fewer than 800,000 children under the age of five years had been immunised in five local government areas in Borno. He said the local government areas, which had a population of about one million people were Jere, Gwoza, Mafa, Maiduguri Municipality and Bama. “The resurgence of polio is an unusual development and a major setback considering the investment of the international community, and the whole world was looking forward to celebrate Nigeria next year. “I wasn’t expecting polio as a challenge; I was expecting teenage pregnancy and other health challenges,’’ he said. Adewole said the ministry was working in hands with relevant stakeholders to search for more cases, adding that “we want to assume there could be many more of the cases, we are looking for more cases“.
Adewole disclosed that 300 million doses of vaccine were required to be able to carry out immunization in the country to curtail the spread of the virus. He, however, said that only 100 million doses of vaccine were on ground, adding that measures would be put in place to make up the required doses.