On a visit to Niger, the presidents of the Bill Gates and Aliko Dangoté foundations exchanged with the Head of Government, Ouhoumoudou Mahamadou, on Monday June 19, 2023 in Niamey on questions of vaccination and the elimination of poliomyelitis in the country reported the Anp.
This meeting was an opportunity to take stock of the implementation of the commitments resulting from the Forum organized by Niger on October 12 and 13, 2022 on vaccination, but also to outline other major challenges facing Niger.
The said forum, at the end of which the stakeholders made commitments to strengthen vaccination, took place 5 months after the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Government of Niger, GAVI Alliance and the Bill and Melinda Gates foundations and Aliko Dangote for strengthening the vaccination system in the regions of Diffa, Maradi and Zinder.
In his speech for the occasion, the Prime Minister of Niger recalled that “the country is facing challenges resulting from the combination of three phenomena that affect our country simultaneously, namely terrorism and transnational organized crime, change climate and galloping demography”.
“Halfway to the 2030 horizon, the deadline set for achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, we still have a long way to go,” noted Ouhoumoudou Mahamadou, who explains that because of the combination of the aforementioned factors, Niger is far from achieving the goals of poverty eradication, zero hunger, good governance and well-being for all, inclusive and quality education, gender equality, access drinking water and sanitation for all.
After giving statistics on the poverty line in Niger which is 40.8%, people in a situation of food insecurity estimated at 3.2 million in 2023 as well as the number of children affected by malnutrition which is 47 %, the Head of the Nigerien government specified that “by observing the good results achieved by our country in terms of vaccination, it seems clear that a fruitful partnership, of the kind that we have developed between the communities, the government and technical and financial partners such as the Gavi Alliance, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundations and Dangote, is likely to reverse the trends”.
Also, Ouhoumoudou Mahamadou noted that the efforts of the government and partners will undoubtedly enable our country to achieve the objectives of vaccination coverage and to control or even eliminate vaccine-preventable diseases.
Before renewing the commitment of the President of the Republic and the Government of Niger to maintain efforts within the framework of the financing of the vaccination of children and women throughout the territory, both routinely and en masse, the Prime Minister of invite the Aliko Dangote and Bill Gates foundations to continue their support for Niger to face the challenges listed earlier.
Were present at this meeting, the traditional Chiefs and religious leaders, the members of the government, and the governors of the regions.
