Bill Gates, the co-founder of
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, says Nigeria is one of the most difficult
places to wipe out polio in the world.
Speaking at the joint forum of
the Commonwealth Head of Government Meeting in Westminster on Tuesday, Gates
said India, Nigeria and Pakistan have proven to be the most difficult places to
wipe out the disease, adding that it was difficult but achievable.
Gates, who is the second richest
man in the world, said the Commonwealth has to learn from itself in solving its
own problems, stating examples of what Nigeria learnt from India in the
eradication of the dangerous disease.
“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.”
Gates was in Nigeria in March to
discuss the need to invest more in health and education for the future of
Nigeria.
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From what I've read about his projects, I'd advice he takes his vaccines away and use them elsewhere. We say very big thanks.
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