Dangote Donate N200m To Fight Coronavirus In Nigeria
The
Aliko Dangote Foundation has earmarked N124million that will support
facilities to help prevent, assess and respond to health events at Point
of Entry to ensure National Health SecurityLAGOS,
Nigeria, March 3, 2020/ — The Aliko Dangote Foundation (ADF) yesterday
pledged a whooping sum of N200million to support current effort of the
Nigerian government towards curbing the spread of Corona Virus or
Covid-19 in the country.
ADF’s intervention is considered the
largest single donation by a corporate organization in the country to
contain the spread of coronavirus since Nigeria recorded its first index
case last month in Lagos, Nigeria.
The Managing Director and
Chief Executive Officer of the Aliko Dangote Foundation Ms. Zouera
Youssoufou, represented by the Health and Nutrition Programme Officer
Maryam Shehu-Buhari, at a donor coordinating meeting in Abuja on
Tuesday, March 3, 2020 said the donation was part of the Foundation’s
cardinal objective of partnering with governments at all levels against
the dreaded disease in Nigeria and the rest of Africa.
The Foundation is also the only Nigerian donor that attended the meeting and made monetary pledge.
To
this extent, she said the Aliko Dangote Foundation has earmarked
N124million that will support facilities to help prevent, assess and
respond to health events at Point of Entry to ensure National Health
Security.
Ms Youssoufou also highlighted other areas of
intervention to include surveillance and epidemiology, where facilities
worth N36million will be provided by the Foundation to support
government’s effort.
According to her the ADF will also donate N48million for case management training of health workers.
Speaking
at the meeting facilitated by World Bank, the Country Director
represented by the Operations Manager Ms. Kathleen Whimp identified four
thematic areas to tackling the spread of COVID 19. These are: Regular
communication with the public, contact tracing, training of volunteers
and international co-operations.
Speaking also, the Director,
Health Emergency Preparedness and Response of the Nigeria Centre for
Disease Control (NCDC) Dr. John Oladejo said some of the challenges,
going forwarded include lack of enough isolation centres, contact
tracing, training of volunteers, international cooperation, fake news
and panic, among others.
Mr. Noel Chisaka of the Regional Disease
Surveillance System Enhancement Project commended the Aliko Dangote
Foundation for the contribution and encouraged others to join in the
fight against Covid-19.
Other donors invited to the meeting
include: WHO, UNICEF, BMGF, RTSL, EU, USAID, US CDC, DFID, Public Health
England, GIZ, JICA, Africa CDC, WAHO, PHI, MTN, Red Cross, IFRC and
AFENET.
According to reports there are a total of 90,936
confirmed cases worldwide – although more than half of those (47,995)
have already recovered. The biggest numbers are still by far in mainland
China (80,151), followed by South Korea (4,812), Italy (2,036) and Iran
(1,501). Japan has 274 confirmed cases, France 191, Germany 165, Spain
120, Singapore 108, US 106, and Hong Kong 100. There are also cases in
South America, Africa and Australia.
The total death toll stands
at 3,117 with 2,936 of those coming from China. The countries with the
next highest numbers are Iran (66), Italy (52) and South Korea
(29).There have also been deaths in Japan, the US, France, Australia,
the Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand.
It would be recalled that
the Aliko Dangote foundation also committed N1billion in the fight
against the dreaded Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in Africa, helping to
build resilience and strengthen Nigeria’s health system in a manner
expected to endure beyond the Ebola crisis period.
The
foundation’s support during the Ebola crisis ensured the establishment
of the National Ebola Emergency Operations Centre (EEOC) in Yaba, Lagos;
provision of 12 units of thermal cameras across Nigeria’s International
Airports with training for 160 staff/personnel of the Federal Ministry
of Health, Port Health Services Department, on the use of the thermal
cameras; provision of W.H.O-certified Personal Protective Equipment,
PPEs and comprehensive logistics support for the returnee volunteers on
Ebola intervention across countries ravaged by Ebola.
President
Muhammadu Buhari had then commended Mr. Aliko Dangote for what he
described as “remarkable sacrifices in eradicating Ebola virus disease
and polio in Nigeria.”Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Dangote Group.
SOURCE
Dangote Group
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