The new cases of Ebola discovered by the Ministry of Health of Liberia as showed that there are still lessons to be learnt from the first outbreak of Ebola in Africa. Three new cases of Ebola were reported by the Ministry of Health of Liberia almost two months after being declared Ebola free by the World Health Organization (WHO).
The first new case of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) was confirmed by Ministry of Health of Liberia on the 29th of June, 2015 when specimens from the corpse of a 17-year old boy in a village located 35 miles Northeast of Monrovia tested positive to EVD. Two cases then followed from the same village on July 1 and 2, 2015.
According to the former Minister for State for Health, Dr Pate Mohammad, the Ebola outbreak has exposed major vulnerability of countries to public health emergencies due to infectious diseases.
Dr Pate Mohammad in an exclusive chat with Naij on Tuesday said that public health should now be seen as an important aspect of national security with broader developmental implications.
‘Public health is no longer just about the health sector, it has important national security as well as broader developmental implications.
‘In Nigeria we were fortunate the Ebola outbreak was stopped successfully in Lagos and Port Harcourt, but I can imagine several parts of our country where the story would have been different’
Dr Pate acknowledged the robust surveillance in Nigeria despite several problems mitigating against Nigerian Healthcare system. He however, said that it is heavily dependent on external support and quite unsustainable at the moment.
‘We have in Nigeria quite a robust surveillance system that is mainly and narrowly built around surveillance for poliomyelitis, and to some extent measles and cerebrospinal meningitis, and run with significant technical assistance from WHO and United States’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
‘It is because of such infectious disease surveillance system that we get to know very early when polio virus is found anywhere in Nigeria, or measles outbreaks or the periodic cholera outbreaks.
‘This system is heavily dependent on external support and not quite sustainable at this stage.’
On how Nigeria can prevent the re-emergence of Ebola as some International experts have warned on the possibility of such if care is not taken, Dr Pate said the answer lies in the complete domestication of Nigeria’s capacity for public health disease surveillance and response as a core public health function of Federal and all States Ministries of Health.
‘I think going forward, Nigeria should fully domesticate its capacity for public health disease surveillance and response as a core public health function of Federal and all States Ministries of Health.
‘The Federal Ministry of Health should build its capacity to fully implement provisions of the International Health Regulations to protect our homeland from disease threats.
‘The National Center for Disease Control should coordinate the national network of well-funded, functional centers of disease surveillance and control.”
The former Minister also noted areas of capacity building needed for health workers to strengthen the public health system’s response to outbreaks.
‘Laboratory capacity should be enhanced, through training of technologists, lab scientists and public health epidemiologists.
‘We should capitalize on our expansive network of more than 1200 community health workers to create a trained volunteer corps that can be mobilized effectively and quickly in response to outbreaks.
“The volunteer corps can play critical role in community social mobilization, case identification, referral, monitoring and notification.
‘We should use existing social media and mobile technology to enhance our tracking, monitoring and communications. A very good example is the use of #Ebola Alert in the recent outbreak, which had large positive impact.
‘Through networks of community health workers linked to more specialized public health expertise it is possible to establish a community based disease surveillance system than will detect and help to respond in outbreak situations.”
He also advocated for financial backing of disease surveillance and control programs to better position the country to combat threats.
‘The emergency preparedness funds provided for by the 2014 National Health Act should be mobilized and prudently used to develop response capacity for the common outbreaks that we find in Nigeria.’
Ebola virus disease is a severe, often fatal illness in humans transmitted to people from wild animals. Ebola outbreak started in Liberia and spread down to the Nigeria. Since then, stakeholders and experts have called on the government to step up its role in ensuring national security by making Nigerian healthcare sector better.
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