We will sign obituary of Lassa Fever this year – Health Minister

Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, Wednesday said the country is committed to signing the ‘obituary’ of the endemic Lassa fever this year.

He said it was disturbing that despite human and material resources in the country, the Lassa fever has persisted.

In an interview with journalists at the Presidential Villa Abuja , Adewole noted that the current outbreak of the disease was not a resurgence.

“We have had these outbreaks. In 2012, we had the highest. We have 1700 case and that declined. Last year, we had 441 cases. And what has happened is that for the first time in the history of the country, we are being transparent and open and we are telling the entire world what the situation is and that is what is different. We are also concerned. We want to find out why we are still having this lassa fever inspite of human and material resources that we have in this country… We are committed to signing the obituary of the Lassa fever this year” he said.

He decried the culture of silence in some states that may be covering or not reporting cases. Citing Ebonyi state he said “we recognised Ebonyi State as one of the endemic states. And since the outbreak, Ebonyi has not recorded a single case or report a since case. We despatched our surveillance team to Ebonyi and we discovered five cases.

The health minister also noted that the battle against Lassa fever cannot be won the same way the battle against Ebola was won . “Lassa fever is endemic in Nigeria. In 2012, we had upsurge in 26 states. So, it is there but I can assure you that with what we put in place this year, we will sign it off” he said .

On plans to expand the network of primary healthcare centers in the 2016 spending year, Adewole said his ministry was ready to perform wonders. He said the minus try was putting in place innovative
funding mechanisms, with the ability to manage and put to use 10,000 primary health care centres across the country over the next two years.

“In the next 100 days, we will flag off 110 of these centres. We will start with the one in Fuka where we had this outbreak. We will do one per senatorial district, 109 to make 110 in 100 days. This year alone, we will do 5000” he added.

Nigeria’s primary health care centers across the country are poorly managed and mostly under-equipped. Proximity to these centers by Nigerians who need to access them have been a bane for emergency management.

 

Elizabeth Archibong