Health experts have recognised and applauded Nigeria’s strategic response to the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak which is being recommended as a global model for the containment of the deadly plague now causing concern worldwide.
This development coincided with the declaration, yesterday, of Nigeria as an Ebola-free state by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Riu Gama Vaz, WHO country representative in Nigeria, who made the announcement at a news conference in Abuja, said Nigeria had successfully broken the transmission chain, stressing that the country’s story was an indication that the disease could be contained.
Nigeria’s EVD containment strategy has thus been articulated as involving the setting up of isolation and treatment centres in Lagos and Port Harcourt to manage EVD cases, as well as an Emergency Operation Centre in Lagos, using short message service (SMS) and social media platforms to educate the populace.
The country’s mode of treatment was likewise articulated as administering intravenous fluids, immunoglobins, etc to EVD sufferers, while setting up teams for contact tracing and case management units and Port of Entry Units to halt EVD spread.
“Today, 20th of October, 42 days, it means twice of the incubation period after the last confirmed case of the Ebola Virus Disease was discharged from the isolation ward, having tested negative for the Ebola virus, the chain of transmission has been broken,” Vaz said.
“WHO officially declares that Nigeria is now free of the Ebola virus. The virus is gone for now; the outbreak in Nigeria has been defeated. This is a spectacular success story that shows to the world that Ebola can be contained,” the WHO country representative said.
The WHO, in a statement available to BusinessDay, said the story of how Nigeria ended what many believed to be potentially the most explosive Ebola outbreak imaginable was worth telling in detail.
“Such a story can help many other developing countries that are deeply worried by the prospect of an imported Ebola case and eager to improve their preparedness plans. Many wealthy countries with outstanding health systems may have something to learn as well.
“The complete story also illustrates how Nigeria has come so close to the successful interruption of wild poliovirus transmission from its vast and densely-populated territory. As sometimes fortunately happens in public health, one success breeds others, when lessons and best practices are collected and applied,” WHO said in the statement.
Experts say the government’s uncommon synergy with health officials, exploitation of local resources, constant communication with populace and effective collaboration amongst all tiers of government were crucial in helping the country achieve its free status.
“This is a spectacular success story. It shows that Ebola can be contained, but we must be clear that we have only won a battle, the war will only end when West Africa is also declared free of Ebola,” Vaz told a news conference in Abuja.
WHO said Nigerian health officials reached 100 percent of known contacts in Lagos and 99.8 percent at the second outbreak site in Port Harcourt.
However, despite the free status, President Goodluck Jonathan has ordered that all the anti-Ebola measures taken after the entry of the virus into Nigeria should remain intact.
In statement issued by Reuben Abati, special adviser on media and publicity, the president also asked health officials to continue to actively screen persons entering the country through its air, land and sea borders for any sign of the virus.
“As the nation applauds the success of its collective effort to stop the transmission of the Ebola Virus within Nigeria, the entire country must remain fully alert and vigilant against the re-entry of the virus,” the statement read.
“The president consequently directs that all the anti-Ebola measures taken after the entry of the virus into the country should remain in place and that health officials should continue to actively screen persons entering the country through its air, land and sea borders for any sign of the virus,” it said.
The president also urged all Nigerians to continue to follow the anti-Ebola advisories on sanitation and personal hygiene issued by federal and state health authorities.
Meanwhile, the Lagos State government yesterday announced that it would be supporting the First Consultant Hospital, Obalende, Lagos, where the first index Ebola case was diagnosed with a sum of N50 million to enable the medical facility bounce back to business.
The index case, Patrick Sawyer, was rushed to the medical facility from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport where he collapsed upon arriving Nigeria from Monrovia on July 20, 2014. The doctors at the hospital had begun administering treatment on Sawyer days before they discovered he was an Ebola victim.
The state government also announced it would be extending same gesture to each of the 20 victims of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), either dead or alive, but did not specify how much would be given to each of them.
Joshua Bassey, Kemi Ajumobi, Alex Chiejina, ODINAKA MBONU, in Lagos , & YANGE IKYAA, Abuja
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