The United States is set to assist the Federal Government to build its first pharmaceutical warehouse in Nigeria.
The US, through the US Agency for International Development, and in partnership with the Global Fund for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, is co-funding the construction of the pharmaceutical-grade warehouse in Lagos State.
Earlier this year, construction began on a similar project in Abuja at the Idu Industrial Area. The two new facilities will provide more storage space for medications and life-saving public health equipment in Nigeria, the US Embassy said.
“We’re happy to help the government of Nigeria establish a national system to ensure that Nigerian families, especially expectant mothers and children, can go to a health clinic and find the medical supplies and medicines that they need,” the acting US Consul General, DehabGhebreab, said on Thursday during a ceremony to kick-start the construction of the warehouse.
The Lagos warehouse covers a surface area of 3465 square meters with smooth dust-free floors, temperature-regulating systems, security systems, thermal insulated ceilings, and appropriate warehouse handling equipment, such as shelving, electric reach stackers, and hand pallet movers.
Ghebreab noted that the US investments in strengthening Nigeria’s health system went beyond just constructing buildings. She said the US government was also working closely with Nigeria’s federal, state, and local governments to improve the quality and availability of health services.
Part of this effort, he said, focused on building the management and logistical systems required to have a reliable, national health care system, “one which has both a strong public as well as private health care providers.”
According to the acting consul general, the warehouse will double the storage capacity of existing warehouses and will make it easier for the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Health to buy, store, track, and distribute medications to health care centers across Nigeria.
Over 7,000 health facilities across the country will receive commodities directly from the two new warehouses, leading to the reduction of the cost and time of transporting life-saving medications and equipment to all parts of the country, she added.
(PUNCH)
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