President Bola Tinubu has approved the establishment of the Regional Coordinating Centre (RCC) of the Africa Centres for Disease Control (Africa-CDC) in Nigeria.

Mr Tinubu is the African Union (AU) Champion for Human Resources for Health and Community Health Delivery Partnership.

Ajuri Ngelale, the president’s special adviser on media and publicity, disclosed this in a statement on Thursday in Abuja.

He said the president’s approval of the centre’s location in Abuja is part of his larger effort to convey Nigeria’s commitment to regional and global health security.

He said it would also promote local economic opportunities in the healthcare delivery value chain and enhance Nigeria’s and West Africa’s capacity to respond to outbreaks.

“The centre will also bring with it enormous socio-economic benefits in the form of enhancing aggregate national productivity and reversing human capacity drain, even as the ability of indigenous medical professionals and scientists will be bolstered to respond adequately to old, recent, and emerging diseases, not only in Nigeria but across the continent.”

The president has also approved the upgrade of the Federal College of Dental Technology and Therapy, Enugu, to a full-fledged University of Allied Health Sciences.

Ngelale said this was part of Tinubu’s dedicated efforts to build robust human resources for the health and social welfare sector.

He said it would now be known as the Federal University of Allied Health Sciences, Enugu, under the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare.

The presidential spokesman said the directive came when Mr Tinubu was taking revolutionary initiatives to reform the health sector.

The initiatives include training 120,000 frontline health workers nationwide within 16 months, doubling the number of primary health facilities in local communities from 8,800 to over 17,000 over the next three years.

He said the president is also doubling the number of health personnel graduating from accredited nursing and midwifery institutions over the next three years to meet Nigerians’ aspirations for accessible, affordable, and quality healthcare services nationwide.

On March 13, 2016, the AU announced that Nigeria will host one of Africa’s Centres for Disease Control (CDC).

Nigeria was favoured to host one of the region’s CDC after AU experts appraised the effectiveness of the Nigerian government in managing the Ebola scourge in 2014, as well as the recent outbreak of Lassa Fever.

In 2014, the heads of state and government of the African Union, at a Special Summit on HIV, TBN, and malaria, decided upon the need for an African Centre for Disease Control that would conduct life-saving research and be capable of disease detection, surveillance, and response.

In January 2015, the Assembly also reaffirmed and asked the AU to get to work, even though they gave clear instructions on the nature of the Africa-CDC to be set up.

The concept approved by the African leaders in January 2015 was to have a coordinating office inside the AU headquarters in Addis-Ababa with five regional collaborating centres, each bringing certain capabilities, assets, and values to the work of the African CDC.

(NAN)