US-CDC URGES NIGERIA TO PREPARE FOR FUTURE PANDEMICS………
By:Safiya Abdulrahim Dabban
The United States Center for Disease Control, US-CDC, has called on Governments at all levels to strengthen their health systems in preparation for future pandemics.
The program Director, Division of Global Health Protection at the US-CDC, Dr. Farah Husain, made the call in Abuja at a media roundtable on the use of evidence-based decision-making for public health intervention.
According to Dr. Farah, there was need for a holistic approach towards the preparedness for what she described as the “next pandemic”, as it might not be respiratory as it was with COVID-19.
The US-CDC Laboratory Branch Chief, Dr. McPaul Okoye, who explained that the Center contributed immensely in Nigeria’s COVID-19 response, highlighted it’s interventions in the country to include the establishment of seven PCR labs and support with anti-retroviral treatment for over one million persons living with HIV and AIDS.
” One of the gains of COVID-19 pandemic is the capacity development in genomic sequencing, as a country we also benefited from this capacity building. US-CDC in partnership with Africa CDC, Bill and Melinda Gates foundation and other critical donors here in Nigeria were able to establish a genomic sequencing lab in the National Reference Laboratory, NRL , and through this sequencing lab, we were able to track and monitor the various variants of COVID-19 through out the process of the pandemic and ongoing”
The Director, Public Health Lab Services, Nigeria Center for Disease Control, NCDC, Mrs Olajumoke Babatunde, said the outcome of this year’s quality assurance assessment indicated that it’s National Reference Laboratory is in line with global standards.