CHOGM: Nigeria Among Most Difficult Countries To Eradicate Polio – Bill Gates

Co-Chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, has identified Nigeria among the most difficult countries in the world to get rid of polio.

Mr Gates, who doubles as the founder of Microsoft, made the statement at the ongoing Commonwealth Head of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Westminster, London, United Kingdom.

Other countries where polio is difficult to wipe out as identified by the American billionaire are India and Pakistan.

Gates said at CHOGM: “If you want to do something better, find out who is already doing better than anyone else in the world, and adopt what they are doing, to your own challenges. The Commonwealth is ideal for this and you have positive outliers in almost every area of expertise, and you meet regularly to learn from one another.

“Polio eradication is a great example of this. For different reasons, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, are three of the places it has been most difficult to wipe out this disease. But India was declared Polio-free in 2014.

“The lessons learnt from there have helped Nigeria get to zero cases in 2017. And now Pakistan, which still has few cases, very few, is taking those experiences, particularly at the challenges of dealing with insecurity, and they have their cases down to the lowest areas ever.

“So, this success really goes back to the substantial commitments made in part at the Commonwealth meetings. Collectively, Commonwealth nations are experts in far more than just polio eradication.

“Nobody else is better in the world at education than Singapore. Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have built very high-quality primary healthcare systems, staffed primarily by women healthcare workers.”

THE WHISTLER recalls that during his recent visit to Nigeria, Mr Gates criticised the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) of the Federal Government for not making adequate provisions for the development of human capital such as health and education.