NIGERIA – The Nigerian National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control has said the country has been certified by the World Health Organization for the production of vaccines.

The agency also stated that the country met the 868 requirements set by the global world health regulatory body.

Speaking during the ministerial press briefing on COVID-19 organized by the Ministry of Health in Abuja, the Director General of NAFDAC, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, added that the agency was trying to build new facilities in seven states.

She said, “I am pleased to announce to you that Nigeria has received certification from the World Health Organisation to produce vaccine. We received the certification in October.

“We have been on this for close to two years and we met the 868 requirements set by the WHO and we have even been referenced globally with most countries referring to us as the Abuja principal. We also underwent training for close to one and a half years.”

The NAFDAC DG added that the agency working to rid the country of fake drugs.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has said in 2021, it will spend US$787 million in development and humanitarian assistance in Nigeria.

This was disclosed in a statement from the US embassy in Abuja to commemorate a major milestone, marking 60 years since its founding by President John F. Kennedy.

In Nigeria and around the world, USAID partners with some of the world’s top development agencies, the United Nations, local non-governmental and civil society organizations, and host country governments to help save lives, reduce poverty, strengthen governance, and improve health, education, and economic prosperity.

Perhaps its biggest ongoing success in Nigeria has been its response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic that has wrought the country since the 1980s, read the statement.

This has been achieved through funding from the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) in collaboration with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Walter Reed Army Research.

Institute, culminating in a 2019-2020 “surge” that greatly reduced a rising trend in vulnerable areas, especially in combination with ongoing tuberculosis and new COVID-19 pandemics.

USAID support has protected 68 million Nigerians from malaria by donations of mosquito nets through the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI), which has contributed to a drop in child deaths by 16 per cent over 10 years and helped reduce malaria prevalence from 42 per cent to 23 per cent.

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