Far North: Minister inaugurates centre to boost fight against vaccine-preventable diseases.

The facility known as Polio Emergency Coordination Unit is found in Maroua. It was inaugurated during a recent ceremony. 

The ultra-modern edifice is a product of a partnership between the Ministry of Public Health and some partner countries.

It was also built with the support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, BMGF, through e-Health Africa as part of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, GPEI. 

According to the member of government, the Polio Emergency Coordination Unit is a meeting place for all stakeholders involved in immunisation activities and the response to vaccine-preventable diseases. 

Minister Manaouda said the facility will help the Far North Coordination and Response Unit against Vaccine-Preventable Diseases cover more grounds.

Dr Manaouda used the event to task the head and staff of the centre to make optimal and efficient use of this structure so that it serves for long.

The edifice comprises: a large meeting room with projection and teleconferencing equipment; a workspace with eight workstations; a secretariat; an office for the Incident Manager, IM; server room; kitchen and utility rooms.

It is supplied with drinking water by a borehole equipped with a water tower, and electricity. This is being done with the help of a generator.

A team from the Regional Expanded Programme on Immunisation is expected to coordinated activities at the centre in collaboration with the North Regional Delegation of Public Health.

With the new edifice now functional, the Far North Region now boasts of having the largest coordination and response unit against poliomyelitis and other health scourges.

It was set up to coordinate the fight against the current epidemic in the Lake Chad basin, in collaboration with neighbouring countries, notably Nigeria and Chad. 

The Far North Region is vulnerable to epidemics of vaccine-preventable diseases mostly worsened by the security crisis it is experiencing.