Containing frequent outbreaks of infectious diseases is pushing Nigeria’s already stretched public healthcare system to break point. Health experts say the situation has been allowed to deteriorate and have suggested some solutions curb it.
The outbreaks of Lassa fever, Monkeypox, yellow fever, cholera and meningitis have put significant strain on the nation’s public health sector and have affected the economy through loss of labour, reduced productivity and inefficiency of businesses.
“Nigeria’s epidemic preparedness and response capacity require that some gaps be fixed, which include infrastructure, logistics, commodities, technology, human resource and communication to enhance detection, prevention and management of an outbreak,” said Muntaqa Umar-Sadiq, chief executive officer,Private Sector Health Alliance of Nigeria (PHN).
According to World Health Organisation, WHO at the core of any response to outbreaks is how well the country’s health system is functioning on a regular basis, before the disease strikes.
“A strong health system capable of providing effective primary care to its citizens will be much more resilient when an unexpected crisis hits.
“Conversely, countries with weak health systems, which often also face a range of governance and poverty issues and multiple disease burdens, will struggle to provide basic health services. These challenges are worsened during severe disease outbreaks,” says the agency.
However, critics of the past outbreaks have cited medical negligence, reverting to old habits and lack of readiness as the reason for this potential outbreak reoccurrence.
According to the situation report released by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control as of February 3, “Since the onset of the outbreak of Lassa fever this year (2019), a total of 731 suspected cases have been reported from 19 states. Of these, 275 were confirmed positive, three probable, 57 deaths in confirmed cases and 453 negatives (not a case).”
Thousands of Nigerians have begun to lose lives, not just to the outbreaks alone but due to lack of access to treatment and late presentation. The fact that the prevalence of many communicable diseases, including Lassa fever and cholera, is increasing at an alarming rate poses a serious threat not just to Nigerians but also to its neighbours.
Umar-Sadiq pointed out that the state of health in Nigeria is characterised by poor health outcomes and suboptimal health care systems vulnerable to the threat of future epidemics and outbreaks, which threaten global health security.
“With more outbreaks on the horizon, Nigeria can’t afford to repeat this cycle of uncertain priorities, wasted time and investments. We need strong and clear leadership; effective deployment of new innovations,” he stressed.
However, there are important lessons to learn around the importance of partnership, leadership, communication and innovation.
“The importance of health education before and during outbreak cannot be over emphasised; it requires the full participation of the community,” said Femi Ayoola, a coordinator at Nigeria Centre for Disease Control recently spoke at a workshop on Infectious diseases risk communication plan development.
Similarly, Oladoyin Odubanjo chair, Association of Public Health Physicians of Nigeria (APHPN), Lagos Chapter said Nigeria needs to be more proactive in preventing, apply the lessons learnt and key success factors of the past should be applied in other to prepare the country against another outbreak.
“Effective surveillance is clearly important, containment, general precautions measure will minimise risk of transmission of the viral disease coming into the county” said Odubanjo.
Global strategies indicate that the roles of multi-sectorial partnerships, particularly the private sector at country level, is a critical precursor to accelerating progress towards set objectives.
“Strengthening Nigeria’s epidemic preparedness and response will require bold innovative approaches and complementary public private partnerships,” revealed Umar-Sadiq.
However, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control aimed at monitoring the challenges of public health emergencies and to enhance the country’s preparedness and response to epidemics through prevention, detection, and control of communicable and non-communicable diseases.
Its core mandate is to detect, investigate, prevent and control diseases of national and international public health importance, is always updating the disease situation reports weekly.
ANTHONIA OBOKOH
