Nigeria donates $1m to fight Ebola in Africa

The Federal Government on Tuesday
demonstrated its commitment to stamping out
Ebola Virus Disease in Africa, with President
Muhammadu Buhari announcing a donation of US
$1 million to the continent.
This is in addition to earlier contributions by
Nigeria to stem the disease in the region.
The gesture is to also underscore the importance
of ridding the continent of Ebola and in the spirit
of mutual assistance.
A statement by the Director of Press and Public
Relations in the Ministry of Health, Mrs. Ayo
Adesugba, said Buhari announced the donation
during the international conference of African
Ministers of Health in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.
The President, who was represented by the
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Mr.
Linus Awute, used the forum to share Nigeria’s
experience in 2014, in rapidly containing the
deadly virus.
He however said, “Nigeria is not celebrating the
end of Ebola in Nigeria until this disease is totally
eliminated from the West African region. This is
because Ebola in one country remains also a
threat to another. Therefore, meeting the
challenge is crucial to us right now and so we
remain committed to support all efforts of the
African Union in this fight.”
Along this line, according to him, Nigeria is in full
support of the establishment of the African Centre
for Disease Control, working with the regional
centre, which he said, would significantly enhance
health targets to build the International Health
Regulations Capacities.
Buhari observed that ECOWAS region was the first
to take the initiative of establishing a regional
Centre for Disease Control in which the Nigeria
Centre for Disease Control was designed as the
regional centre in recognition of its role in
curtailing the spread of the disease in Nigeria and
the West African sub-region.
He stated that Nigeria was supporting research
efforts in developing therapies and vaccines
against the disease, adding that the efforts were
leading to the development of promising Ebola
therapies through partnership between
government and private sector.