Canada inaugurates N7bn healthcare project in Nigeria

The Canadian government on Tuesday inaugurated the $45 million project for enhancing the ability of frontline health workers to improve healthcare services in Nigeria.

The Canadian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Perry Calderwood, during the inauguration in Abuja, said the project was a demonstration of the country’s commitment to globally improve maternal, newborn and child health in Bauchi and Cross River States.

“The value of the project is $50 million Canadian dollars (about US $45 million or about N7 billion). The project will focus on maternal, newborn and child health reflected in our development cooperation programming in Nigeria. These include our major contributions towards polio eradication. I am pleased with the great reduction in the number of new cases of polio in Nigeria in recent years and hope to see the disease completely eradicated from the country at an early date,” Calderwood said.

According to him, a policy framework has been put in place to ensure transparency and accountability in the implementation of the project.

He stated that the World Health Organization as the implementing agency will ensure judicious use of the funds to avoid cases of mismanagement of funds that have followed donors’ funding in Nigeria’s healthcare sector.

Also speaking, the WHO Country Director to Nigeria, Dr Gama Vaz, said the organisation and implementing partners will “continue to seek support and involvement of key development policy and strategies.”

Vaz said the project focus on healthcare workforce capacity will formulate modalities to ensure efficient healthcare service delivery in Nigeria.

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Mr. Linus Awute, called for the need for further cooperation among stakeholders to scale up maternal,  newborn health system in the country.

The occasion was also attended by resource persons from Bauchi and Cross River States.