As Nigeria advances towards achieving Universal Health Coverage, Federal Government in line with President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda is taking more practical and holistic steps to strengthen the nation’s healthcare system, reduce the burden of healthcare-associated infections and improve patient outcomes.
Accordingly, the Coordinating Minister, Health and Social Welfare, Mr muhammad pate , on Monday, inaugurated the National Infection Prevention and Control Technical Working Group (IPC-TWG).
The group which comprises of members across different sectors will work to design a system that prioritizes patient-centred care through collaboration, knowledge sharing, stakeholder engagements and innovation.
Prof. Pate, in his inaugural speech highlighted that Nigeria had constantly shown resilience in disease prevention and outbreak containment which is evident in how it handled Ebola, Covid and even the current outbreak of Cholera and stressed the need for major improvements to strengthen the national IPC plan leveraging on the One Plan philosophy for better results.
The minister who was represented by the DG NCDC , Dr. Idris Olajide noted that the IPC-TWG will serve as a national level indicator to track set precedence for other nations to follow.
He went on to appreciate the Management and staff of the NCDC for their commitment to the course as well as development partners acknowledging their collaborative efforts.
The minister assured the TWG that necessary resources and technical support will be given to it that the burden of diseases is significantly reduced and Nigeria operated a safer healthcare system.