The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has said that northern Nigeria remains a high-risk region for the spread of coronavirus.

Its Chief Executive Officer of the Foundation, Mark Suzman, during a conference call with some African journalists yesterday, said this was due to the region’s weak primary healthcare system. He said: “We’ve worked extensively in the north because it’s the poorest part of Nigeria.

It does have sort of the weakest overall health infrastructure and facilities and that’s also why the region has the highest child and maternal mortality rate.

“Those characteristics are shared by several African countries including in the region that is comparable to the challenges in the other parts of the Sahel and other parts of the continent.

“I don’t think there is anything sort of specific you call out other than the risks are obviously greater when you do have a very weak, underlying primary healthcare structure and system in place.”

Daily Trust