Fight against polio disease: President Buhari bags prestigious award (photos)

– The polio champion award has been given to President Buhari in recognition of his effort towards the eradication of polio in the country

– The prestigious award was presented by the president of Rotary International, Barry Rassin, who is in Nigeria with his wife on a courtesy visit

– Previous recipients of the prestigious award are the prime minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and top world leaders

President Muhammadu Buhari has been conferred with the prestigious Polio Champion Award (PCA) in recognition of his uncommon commitment and leadership in the polio eradication programme in Nigeria.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the president of the Rotary International (RI) , Barry Rassin, who is on a four-day official visit to Nigeria, presented the award to President Buhari at state house, Abuja, on Thursday, November 15.

President Buhari being presented with the prestigious polio champion award by Barry Rassin, president of Rotary Int’l. Photo credit: Femi Adeshina, Facebook

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TRACKNEWS.NG gathers that the award was instituted by Rotary International in 1995 to recognise and appreciate heads of governments and organisations that have played a key role in polio eradication around the world.

The last recipient of the Award was Justin Trudeau, the prime minister of Canada. Other past recipients include the prime minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and former secretary general of United States, Ban Ki-Moon.

Receiving the award, President Buhari, thanked Rotary International for the honour. He also lauded their commitment to humanitarian work across the globe.

He said: ‘‘Rotary International is well known to my generation. Your work is really humanitarian; no amount of materialism can pay you for what you have been doing and we thank you very much.

‘‘I am pleased with the efforts of Rotary International, you are champions of the weak, and I pray that God will abundantly pay you for your humanitarian services.

“I am also pleased that I have a competent health minister who supervises the work.’’

President Buhari with Barry Rassin, president of Rotary Int’l and some senior members of the club in Nigeria. Photo credit: Femi Adeshina, Facebook

Earlier in his remarks, Rassin commended the president for providing significant leadership in the efforts to eradicate polio in Nigeria.

He advocated for increased political and financial commitments at all levels for routine immunization and primary health care strengthening.

He also commended President Buhari for his commitment to Polio Eradication Initiative (PEI) by expanding the presidential task force on polio to include state governors shortly after he took office in 2015.

The Rotary president, who was accompanied by his wife, Esther, and other senior Rotarians in Nigeria described Buhari as‘‘an inspiration to your country.’’

According to him, Rotary International has contributed 1.7 billion dollars to the global effort to eradicate polio, of which 270 million dollars was expended in Nigeria.

He said: ‘‘We have come a long way from 1985 when polio was crippling 350,000 children annually in 125 countries of the world to 27 cases in two countries.

“But even one child paralysed by polio is one child too many. We need to end polio now.’’

Rassin revealed that Nigeria had not recorded any case of polio in the last 27 months, nine months away from ‘‘possible certification of eradication.’’

President Buhari with Barry Rassin, president of Rotary Int’l and some senior members of the club in Nigeria. Photo credit: Femi Adeshina, Facebook

TRACKNEWS.NG previously reported that National Agency for the Control of HIV/AIDS (NACA) recently revealed that seven hundred and forty-seven thousand, eight hundred and fifty-three females were among the 1,090,233 people on Anti-Retroviral (ARV) treatment in Nigeria as at June 2018.

In a statement made in Abuja on Friday, November 9, Greg Ashefor, the acting director, Research Monitoring and Evaluation Directorate (RMED), added that 342,380 males were also on ARV treatment.

The acting director also added that the number included all persons on treatment programmes supported by the U.S government Global Fund (GF), and the federal government.