Vice-President Kashim Shettima says Nigeria is ready to work with all African Union (AU) member states to achieve continental health security and sovereignty.
Speaking on the sidelines of the 39th AU summit in Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia, on Friday, Shettima said Nigeria’s proposal was driven by the
need to ensure that Africans’ health is not left vulnerable to distant supply
chains or shifting global priorities.
“Nigeria stands ready to collaborate with every member state
of our Union to make health security sovereignty measurable in factories
commissioned, laboratories accredited, health workers trained, counterfeit
markets dismantled, and insurance coverage expanded,” the vice-president said,
according to a statement issued by Stanley Nkwocha, his spokesperson.
“Health security is national security, and in an
interconnected continent, national security is continental security.
“A virus, as we have witnessed, does not carry a passport. A counterfeit medicine does not respect a border. A pandemic does not wait for bureaucracy.”
The vice-president noted that Nigeria is focusing on
boosting local manufacturing of ER pharmaceuticals, increasing domestic health
financing, and strengthening regulatory oversight as part of efforts to improve
national health outcomes.
“Nigeria has approached this challenge with seriousness
under the leadership of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. In
December 2023, we launched the Nigeria Health Sector Renewal Investment
Initiative, securing over 2.2 billion dollars in health-sector commitments
anchored in measurable outcomes,” he said.
Shettima added that the country is also “upgrading
quality-control laboratories, tightening enforcement against substandard and
falsified medicines, and streamlining processes for compliant manufacturers”.
The event also marked the formal launch of the Africa Health Security and Sovereignty Initiative, a collaboration between Nigeria and the
Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention to mobilise investment in
health workforce development, community health systems and sustainable
immunisation programmes.
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