Sightsavers Scores Abia’s Drug Administration Project High

Sightsavers has declared Abia State’s record of 40,000 in the Safety And Anti-Microbal Resistance Of Mass Drug Administration Of Azithromycin To Children 1-11 months project as successful.

Sightsavers country director and co-investigator in the project, Prof Joy Shua’abu, stated this at the close-out ceremony of the project which was executed in Umunneochi local government area.

Represented by the country copordinator -Trachoma and SARMAAN co-investigator, Dr Teyil Wamyil-Mshelia, she said the project was conducted as pilot phase SARMAAN 1 from 2022 to 2024 in five other states also.

“The project is very significant to us and the Federal Ministry of Health mainly because it touches the lives of the future generations, our children. Abia State has also given us a successful  information, data, and added to the body of knowledge that we have for such intervention globally. I would like to say that in the course of our work here, we did a lot and I want to congratulate the state for their efforts in reaching out children in the area,” she said.

She expressed gratitude to Governor Alex Otti through the commissioner for health, Dr. Enoch Uche, and the area’s mayor, Chief Sunny Afurobi for his support to the project.

She appreciated the efforts of the health workers “who made sure that the programme was successful and the mothers and the children as the most important beneficiaries of the project “.

The director also lauded the contributions of the project consortium led by the Federal Ministry of Health and the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research for their leadership and coordination.

In a comment, the commissioner, represented by the permanent secretary of the ministry, Dr Ifeyinwa Uma Kalu reiterated the commitment of the administration to delivering quality healthcare services.

He commended the project for choosing the state as one of the pilot states and assured of the desire of the state to continue to collaborate with intervention agencies in provide health care services in the state.

In a remark earlier, the executive secretary of the State Primary Health Care Delivery Agency, Dr Kalu Ulu  Kalu said the project had achieved significant milestone and successfully demonstrated it integrity in the administration of the drug.