Immunization: FG begins construction of mega storage facility for vaccines

Forum 11 months ago

Immunization: FG begins construction of mega storage facility for vaccines

The Federal Government has begun construction of Abuja hub, one of the three mega stores planned for Abuja, Lagos and Kano for the purpose of massively expanding vaccine storage capacity at the national level in Nigeria.

Speaking during the ground-breaking ceremony marking the commencement of the work yesterday, Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, explained that the increasing population of the country has necessitated the need for the expansion of storage space.

He said: “Nigeria is a large country and continuously increasing population coupled with introduction of new and essential vaccines.

“This requires that we have sufficient storage space for vaccines and injection materials for efficient implementation of our immunization programme.

“The supply chain challenges highlighted by COVID-19 vaccination effort also underlines the need for massive expansion of storage space which will confer a measure of resilience in the system.”

According to the minister,”In recognition of the need for resilience in the system, the country following detailed analysis decided on a system redesign which includes construction of three mega stores at the national level, deployment of optimised cold chain equipment at the health facilities, an efficient distribution system and the deployment of an electronic logistics management information system to provide visibility across the supply chain.”

He said the ground-breaking ceremony was a significant milestone of the system redesign journey.

” GAVI’s support in funding of the construction of two of the three mega stores Abuja and Kano hubs is therefore much appreciated,” he further said.

In his speech, the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of National Primary Health Care Development Agency, NPHCDA, Dr Faisal Shuaib, recalled that, “When this management of NPHCDA came on board in 2017, we inherited an intractable problem of a perennial lack of storage space, especially for vaccines and injection materials, which led to an inefficient supply chain for vaccines and other health commodities.”

According to him,” There was simply insufficient space to store procured and dearly needed commodities.”

He said:” So, the Department of Logistics and Health Commodities, with technical support from the National Logistics Working Group had to be content with fragmented shipments of requirement into the country. This led to multiple shipments over the years with attendant exorbitant operational costs.

“The logistics team in the country had developed a strategic system design plan to address the challenges in immunization Supply Chain. The plan was reviewed with technical support from the Gavi integrated supply Chain 2 (iSC2) team which visited the country in July 2019.

“This plan included massive storage capacity expansion at the national level through construction of three megastores in Abuja, Lagos and Kano (the 3-Hub project), optimal CCE and management practices at the state level, adequacy of cold chain storage space at the point of service delivery through implementation of a policy of at least, one functional and optimized CCE in each of the country’s political ward” a project which benefited from the Gavi Cold Chain Equipment Optimization Platform support and a system for visibility across the levels of the supply chain through deployment of an efficient electronic Logistics management Information System, the OpenLMIS again with Gavi funding support. This strategic plan however could not take off due to a lack of the required resources.

“Fully cognizant of the necessity for implementation of these planned activities, we made funding provision for the Lagos Hub within a World Bank IDA Credit facility for Polio Eradication support.

“Work has commenced in earnest on the construction of the Lagos Hub with the World Bank also supporting oversight of the construction process. I must acknowledge the support of the Honorable Minister of Health in facilitating the negotiations that led to provision of space within the premises of Federal Central Medical Stores Oshodi for the Lagos Hub.

“Funding for the Abuja Hub and the Kano Hub are being provided by the Gavi Alliance within the country’s Health System strengthening (HSS) support.

” The journey to this point has been a long and arduous one. We had delays occasioned by the need to keep upgrading the design in response to prevailing realities, with the necessary funding approvals from the Gavi alliance and the processes required for the efficient procurement of the construction firm to handle the project.

“Here I must acknowledge the technical support of the UNICEF Supply Division in reviewing the designs of the Hubs as well as in provision of procurement services support. Today marks a significant milestone in the journey towards achievement of our shared objective.

“The procurement processes for the engagement of competent vendors for the Kano Hub project have commenced, and we expect to break ground on that project too in a short while.

“Meanwhile, the deployment of the eLMIS system is ongoing as expected. The country’s supply chain system redesign is progressing satisfactorily, again with the strong political support from the highest level of government and the untiring support of our implementing and donor partners.”