By Olamide Francis
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Federal Capital Territory Administration has signed a memorandum of understanding establishing collaboration between USAID/Nigeria and FCTA to improve the health of residents in the territory, Nature News gathered.
During the signing ceremony, the Mission Director USAID/Nigeria, Anne Patterson, revealed that the health status of the FCT population was fair when compared with other states of the federation.
She noted that with the country’s North-East crisis and perception of economic opportunities in the nation’s capital, FCT has seen an increase in the influx of people from other parts of the country.
She further noted that this population increase was putting stress on the available public infrastructure, especially primary healthcare facilities, which are ill-equipped and under-resourced to address the increased health needs of the residents.
“The purpose of the memorandum of understanding is to support the revitalisation of the FCT healthcare system to deliver quality, affordable, and sustainable preventive and primary healthcare services to the residents of FCT.
“With the signing of this memorandum of understanding, USAID expects to apply global best practices and provide high-level technical expertise to assist the FCTA to meet their health improvement goals to operationalise their health plans and their reform strategies,” she said
