The United States is set to assist the Federal Government to build its first pharmaceutical warehouse in Nigeria.
The US, through the US Agency for
International Development, and in partnership with the Global Fund for
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, is
co-funding the construction of the pharmaceutical-grade warehouse in
Lagos State.
Earlier this year, construction began on a
similar project in Abuja at the Idu Industrial Area. The two new
facilities will provide more storage space for medications and
life-saving public health equipment in Nigeria, the US Embassy said.
“We’re happy to help the government of
Nigeria establish a national system to ensure that Nigerian families,
especially expectant mothers and children, can go to a health clinic and
find the medical supplies and medicines that they need,” the acting US
Consul General, DehabGhebreab, said on Thursday during a ceremony to
kick-start the construction of the warehouse.
The Lagos warehouse covers a surface area
of 3465 square meters with smooth dust-free floors,
temperature-regulating systems, security systems, thermal insulated
ceilings, and appropriate warehouse handling equipment, such as
shelving, electric reach stackers, and hand pallet movers.
Ghebreab noted that the US investments in
strengthening Nigeria’s health system went beyond just constructing
buildings. She said the US government was also working closely with
Nigeria’s federal, state, and local governments to improve the quality
and availability of health services.
Part of this effort, he said, focused on
building the management and logistical systems required to have a
reliable, national health care system, “one which has both a strong
public as well as private health care providers.”
According to the acting consul general,
the warehouse will double the storage capacity of existing warehouses
and will make it easier for the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Health to
buy, store, track, and distribute medications to health care centers
across Nigeria.
Over 7,000 health facilities across the
country will receive commodities directly from the two new warehouses,
leading to the reduction of the cost and time of transporting
life-saving medications and equipment to all parts of the country, she
added.
Punch
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