U.S. Delivers 200 Ventilators to Nigeria

By ADF Last updated Sep 1, 2020

U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria Mary Beth Leonard, left, hands over 200 ventilators donated by the U.S. to Nigerian Health Minister Osagie Ehanire. U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

ADF STAFF

The U.S. government has delivered 200 ventilators to Nigeria to strengthen the country’s COVID-19 response.

U.S. President Donald Trump promised to donate the ventilators during an April telephone call with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari. The U.S. has donated more than $54 million to Nigeria since the first COVID-19 infection was confirmed there in February.

Nigerian Health Minister Osagie Ehanire thanked the U.S. as the ventilators were unloaded in Abuja, saying the machines are essential to critically ill patients in intensive care units.

Ventilators are a key “component of the response strategy to save the lives of persons who have been severely impacted by this viral infection,” Ehanire said during a hand-off ceremony covered by thisdaylive.com.

“We particularly appreciate that this gift comes against the backdrop that the United States is also fighting its own fierce battle against the COVID-19 plague,” he said. “We wish them the very best in this challenge.”

After the first COVID-19 case was confirmed in Nigeria, a poll of local health workers revealed that the country had fewer than 500 ventilators, according to a report in the Nigerian newspaper The Punch. Ventilators can help extend the lives of critically ill COVID-19 patients by moving oxygen in and out of the lungs through a tube inserted in a person’s airway.

Known to target the lungs, COVID-19 can cause breathing complications such as pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome.

U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria Mary Beth Leonard said the U.S. will help deliver the ventilators to treatment centers and intensive care units throughout the West African country and help with COVID-19 surveillance efforts.

“The United States has been pivotal in supporting Nigeria’s membership in the ‘Every Breath Counts’ Coalition,” Leonard said, according to thisdaylive.com. “Nigeria is now one of just two countries in Africa to have an ‘oxygen road map’ that seeks to fight against pneumonia, hypoxemia and now COVID-19.”

Recent support from the American government “includes training on the use and maintenance of this equipment, ensuring that the ventilators can address other respiratory illnesses in the years beyond the virus,” she added.

According to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Nigeria reported 52,227 COVID-19 infections and 1,002 deaths as of August 23. The rate of new cases declined in August after spiking in July.

Shortly after the U.S. delivery of ventilators, Nigeria’s government announced the August 28 resumption of international flights, which were suspended after the pandemic hit.