By Abdulrahman Aliagan, Abuja

National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) has congratulated   Dr.Lola Dare of Chestrad International on her appointment into the Transition Independent Monitoring Board (TIMB) of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI)

In a congratulatory letter signed by the Executive Director/CEO of NPHCDA, Dr. Faisal Shuaib, the Agency said the news of Dr .Lola’s appointment “is highly motivating for us as a PEI team and as Nigerians”

According to Dr. Faisal, the appointment is partly in recognition of the fact that Nigeria was one of the first polio endemic countries to commence Polio Transition Planning in 2015 stressing” since then, the country has been leveraging on polio infrastructure and resources to strengthen the Primary Health Care system.”

The Executive Director said further: “The country has been wild poliovirus (WPV) free for 46 months as the last WPV case was in August, 2016.

“The Nigerian Transition planning has completed asset mapping, documentation of lessons learnt from PEI and identified three  core areas for transition including PHC revitalization, routine immunization and  disease surveillance  and outbreak response, consequently, the country has developed a business case for transition and will commence resource mobilization for its implementation post-COVID-19”

Dr. Faisal who described Dr. Lola’s appointment as well deserved said his agency is looking forward to Dr.Lola bringing her vast experience in public health and entrepreneurship to bear on the operations of the TIMB and be a strong voice for Nigeria and indeed Africa in GPEI.