Delta health agency set to eradicate tropical diseases

By Unue Emeka,————-

Delta State Primary Health Care Development Agency (DSPHCDA) said machinery has been set in motion to eradicate neglected tropical diseases.

DSPHCDA said the task will be achieved through mass administration of relevant vaccines in all nook and crannies of the State.

Permanent Secretary in the agency, Dr Jude Winful-Orieke made this assertion yesterday at the opening ceremony of a two-day strategic planning meeting for stakeholders drawn from the 25 local government areas of the State holding in Orchid Hotels, Asaba.

Dr Winful-Orieke stated that the meeting was convened to develop the Delta State Operational Neglected Tropical Diseases work plan for 2021 including the evaluation framework.

He stressed that the meeting would reveal the neglected tropical disease programme targets and milestones, which according to him, would be used as a working document for developing the 2021 plans.

The permanent secretary said that the meeting was designed to collate and document progress made on the neglected tropical diseases, particularly the epidemiological trends and programme impacts made in 2019- 2020 against set targets.

He added that efforts would be made to identify gaps in achieving the 2020 targets and proffer a way forward and measuring progress towards the new World Health Organization roadmap as well as develop local government integrated micro plans for 2021.

Present at the meeting were World Health Organization (WHO) officials, stakeholders from line ministries and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).