By Angela Onwuzoo
After the 2014 outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease in Nigeria, cases of the deadly disease , appearing in another country in Africa always come with worry and anxiety in the mind of many Nigerians. The virus came into Nigeria then from Liberia.
Since the current Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a lot of stakeholders are worrying about the development to avoid it coming back to Nigeria.
According to the World Health Organisation, since the first case of Ebola in DR Congo last August, nearly 1,400 people have died – around 70% of all those infected.
The outbreak, WHO says is the second-largest in the history of the disease, with a significant spike in new cases in recent weeks.
While Nigerians are still troubled about the outbreak in DR Congo, the virus last week, spread to Uganda, where according Ugandan Health Authority, three new cases were discovered.
This confirmation sent more frightening signal to Nigerians as many are concerned about the country’s preparedness in curtailing another outbreak.
In the 2014 Ebola outbreak in Nigeria which lasted for 93 days before it was successfully contained, 20 people were infected with the deadly disease with nine deaths recorded.
Though the country was able to the defeat the disease then with her sudden emergency response, many are, today however, concerned about her preparedness should the disease resurface in the country.
But a statement by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, says chances of the virus being imported from Uganda or DR Congo into the country are low as there are no direct routes from those countries to Nigeria.
NCDC, in the statement said the conclusion was reached following a preliminary risk assessment conducted by the agency on the overall risk of the importation of the disease into the country.
The statement was signed by NCDC, Director, Prevention and Programmes’ Coordination, Dr Joshua Obasanya.
Obasanya said NCDC was monitoring the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and recent cases in Uganda.
He said: “Outbreaks of EVD are known to bear the risk of international spread, hence the rationale for continual evaluation of Nigeria’s potential risk amidst regional trade and flight route within the region. Based on available data, the overall risk of importation of EVD to Nigeria remains low. This is also in line with WHO’s risk assessment for Nigeria. There are no direct commercial flights and no known direct trade routes to Nigeria from Uganda. The current transmission pathway of the disease in Uganda is through unmanned land borders and further away from the capitals of both Uganda and Nigeria.”
Obasanya however, said: “The Nigeria Ebola Preparedness Team has put in place several measures to ensure adequate preparedness. Our national Emergency Operations Centre, situated at the Incident Coordination Centre in NCDC Abuja, is functional and currently in Alert Mode for EVD. Our team of national first responders is on standby and ready for deployment within 24 hours when the need arises”.
Speaking on the need for adequate emergency response to disease outbreaks, a Public Health Physician and Epidemiologist from the Department of Community Health & Primary Care, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Prof Akin Osibogun, noted that it was far cheaper to be prepared than to combat disease outbreaks. He said that a strong health system was better and will be able to prevent disease epidemics and respond faster to save lives.
Osibogun, who is a former Chief Medical Director, Lagos University Teaching Hospital , said: “‘Political commitment is highly required to make adequate funds available to provide needed infrastructure such as laboratories for prompt diagnosis, researches, treatment centres and medical equipment. There should be constant training and retraining of medical personnel for emergency preparedness. There must be strong collaboration between the Federal and state governments and other health agencies to how to contain outbreaks.”
“‘So, as a nation we need to anticipate epidemics and be well prepared via surveillance system, investigation control measures, implementation of prevention measures as well as continuous monitoring”, he added.
