#COVID-19: Lagos State Receives N38 Million Worth Of Response Medical Supplies

Save the Children International, in collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline, a leading pharmaceutical brand, has donated medical supplies valued at N38 million to the government of Lagos State, Southwest Nigeria to strengthen its war against the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Save the Children International, a global non-governmental organisation (NGO), committed to helping disadvantaged children across the globe disclosed this in a statement made available to HumAngle on Tuesday, May 25, 2021.

The supplies which were received by the Lagos State Ministry of Health were meant for all the 28 primary healthcare centres and two general hospitals located in Ikorodu Local Government Area of the state, the charity said in the statement. 

The organisation believes that the donation made to the Ikorodu Local Government, one of the biggest in the state, will go a long way in augmenting the readiness and response of healthcare workers to the teeming populace.

Mercy Gichuhi, Country Director, Save the Children International Nigeria, says that the donations to the Lagos State Government were part of their effort to help the state in combating COVID-19.

“We are aiming to do more to support vulnerable children and families who have been hardest hit by the pandemic,” Gichuhi said.

“Save the Children International remains committed to support the efforts of controlling and treating COVID-19 and pneumonia through our continued collaboration with the Lagos State Ministry of Health,” she added.

The donations, according to the Country Director, were aimed at supporting frontline workers as they perform their duties, and to support the ongoing healthcare responses in the state, Gichuhi said. 

The donated materials include Oxygen Concentrators and Pulse Oximeters to improve access to medical oxygen and thus reduce the number of children dying from pneumonia and other illnesses due to lack of access to medical oxygen.

Prevention and Control (IPC) materials and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE’s) were also donated by the NGO in its bid to support healthcare workers in the frontline of the fight against COVID-19.

The Country Director stated that the donations of the health supplies were made possible “through the support of the pharmaceutical giant, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) through the Integrated Sustainable Childhood Pneumonia and Infectious Diseases Reduction in Nigeria (INSPIRING) Project.”

She called on the state government to “inaugurate free oxygen therapy for under-five children in the state, and to include coverage for complicated and severe pneumonia for under-5s in the State Health Insurance benefits package.” 

Since the index case was recorded in Nigeria, Save the Children has worked with the Nigeria government to respond to the pandemic as a member of the COVID-19 Response Task Force at both federal and state levels, while supporting the development and deployment of COVID-19 strategies to contain the spread of the disease. 

Save the Children’s new partnership with GlaxoSmithKline regarding COVID-19 prevention and control is a step further to catalyze change and contribute to an accelerated reduction in child deaths from pneumonia and other preventable infectious diseases.