The African Union has named President Bola Tinubu as the Champion of Human Resources for Health and Community Health Delivery Partnerships.
Ajuri Ngelale, the presidential spokesman, announced this in a statement on Friday headed ‘President Tinubu appointed as AU Champion for Health.’
The African Union has identified the Nigerian leader as the right champion for this noble and actionable continental effort,” the statement read.
Ngelale said his principal will address participants at the ministerial executive leadership programme this Saturday, February 17, 2024.
He said the Commission of the African Union (Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention- Africa CDC) conveyed the announcement in a letter to Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs saying the President was appointed on the recommendation of the Committee of Heads of State and Government of Africa CDC, under the leadership of Azali Assoumani, President of the Union of Comoros and Chairperson of the African Union.
According to him, the appointment followed the “recognition of President Tinubu’s commitment to train 120,000 frontline health workers nationwide within 16 months and to double the number of primary health facilities in communities across all local government areas of the federation from 8,800 to over 17,000 over the next three years”.
“In his new role, the Commission subsequently invited President Tinubu to address the Ministerial Executive Leadership Programme (MELP) under the theme, ‘Impactful leadership in health: a whole government approach’, billed for Saturday, February 17, 2024, at the Africa CDC Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on the margins of the 37th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of AU Heads of State and Government,” Ngelale said.
The statement noted that President Tinubu was recognised for his efforts in doubling the health personnel enrollment capacity from accredited nursing and midwifery institutions to accommodate the new demand created by new facilities across Nigeria, and his resolve to establish a paid volunteer youth force of social accountability officers to monitor the operational functioning and financial integrity of primary health centres.