…President Buhari appoints NCDC DG
By Hassan Zaggi
In an effort to resolve once and for all the myriad of challenges in the health sector, President Muhammadu Buhari, has approved the setting up of a Health Sector Reform Committee.
The Committee which has six months duration is headed by the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo.
In a statement signed by the Senior Special Assistant to the President (Media & Publicity), Garba Shehu, the Committee is saddled with the responsibility of developing and implementing a health sector reform programme for Nigeria in collaboration with the State Governments and the FCT administration.
The committee is an outcome of the Health Sector Diagnostic Review Report developed by a consultant-Vesta Healthcare Partners and the Federal Ministry of Health.
“The committee will undertake a review of all healthcare reforms adopted in the past two decades and lessons learnt and factor them into the development of the new Health Sector Reform Programme.
“The committee which is set up for a period of six months under the Chairmanship of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has members drawn from private and public sector health care management professionals, development partners, representatives from the National Assembly as well as the Nigeria Governors Forum among others,” the statement noted.
Other members of the committee, the statement said, include, Governor of Delta State, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa; the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire; Director General BPE, Mr. Alex Okoh; a Professor in Infectious Disease Epidemiology at University College London and Director of the UCL Institute for Global Health, Prof Ibrahim Abubakar and Director General, Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Council, Mr Babatunde Irukera.
According to the statement, other members of the committee include Senator (Dr) Ibrahim Yahaya Oloriegbe; Dr. Adedamola Dada; Dr. Sani Aliyu; Dr. Mairo Mandara; Dr. Haliru Yahaya, Emir of Shonga; Professor Uche Amazigbo ; Director Hospital Services, Federal Ministry of Health; Dr Faisal Shuaib; Prof Nasiru Sambo; Dr Ifedayo Morayo Adetifa and Dr Gambo Aliyu
Others in the committee are; Dr Betta Edu (Chairman Nigeria Health Commissioners Forum representing National Council on Health); President Nigeria Medical Association; President Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria; President National Association of Nigeria Nurses & Midwives; President Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria ; Mrs Temi Marcella Awogboro ; Dr. Muhammad Sadiq; Dr. Azubike Tagbo and World Health Organization, Nigeria.
Vesta Healthcare Partners and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the statement said, are to serve as resources persons and have observer roles in the committee.
President Buhari appoints new NCDC DG
Meanwhile, President Buhari has also approved the appointment of Dr Ifedayo Morayo Adetifa as the new Director General of Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
The President has named him as a member of this important committee.
Adetifa will succeed the current Director General of the NCDC, Chikwe Ihekweazu, who has been given an appointment at the World Health Organisation (WHO)
Dr. Morayo studied Epidemiology at the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, where he bagged his MSC and PhD.
Until his appointment Dr Ifedayo Morayo Adetifa was an Associate Professor of Infectious Diseases Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
He obtained his medical degree at the University of Ilorin, Nigeria, trained in Paediatrics and Child Health at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital and received the Fellowship of the West Africa College of Physicians in Paediatrics in 2005.
He studied Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and was awarded his MSc by the University of London in 2009.
He got his PhD from the University of Amsterdam in 2012 for research in Tuberculosis Epidemiology.
His research interests are in vaccine impact/effectiveness studies, innovative approaches/surveillance tools for monitoring vaccination, Tuberculosis Epidemiology, and evidence synthesis including systematic reviews.
He was awarded the MRC/DFID African Research Leader Fellowship in 2018, is a member of the Kenyan National Immunisation Coordinating Committee, and a member of the World Health Organisation, Africa Region’s (WHO-AFRO) Regional Immunisation Technical Advisory Group.
