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By Oyewale Tomori
The first case of Lbada fever in Nigeria was recorded in 1969. A zoonotic disease endemic to West Africa was named in the honor of the city of Nigeria where the first case occurred. Is produced.
In the last seven years, the number of cases and deaths due to the disease has increased significantly. In addition, its geographical area extends. Last year was particularly bad: 3,498 suspected cases and 171 deaths were reported. Another epidemic has affected large parts of the country – and could even be worse than last year.
It is particularly disheartening that Nigeria has failed to control Lbada fever epidemics, which occur every year. The country has successfully responded to the deadly outbreak of Ebola in 2014, but it seems unable to do the same when it comes to controlling Lbada fever. Every year he is caught off guard, unprepared to respond quickly and effectively to new homes.
This is true not only of Lbada fever but also of other diseases, such as yellow fever, cerebrospinal meningitis and monkey pox. There is currently an outbreak of yellow fever and 311 suspected cases of monkey pox in 26 states.
why is this the case?
There are three main reasons: the first is due to the weakness of the disease control system in the country. In addition, Nigeria has become too dependent on foreign aid for its surveillance needs. And the last factor is that the country's inability to clean its streets and manage its waste has led to a surge in the rodent population. Rodents are considered as possible carriers of the Lbada fever virus.
The reasons
In Nigeria, all levels of government have for many years neglected and underfunded the health sector in general and disease surveillance in particular. As a result, the country has not been able to detect and control or respond quickly and effectively in the event of an outbreak.
As a result, Nigeria now depends too much on foreign aid for disease surveillance. It is difficult for the country to coordinate badistance programs funded and managed by international NGOs and other partners with defined objectives. This has resulted in a random and uneven development of the national disease surveillance system and the failure to establish a national network of functional laboratories. The country failed to maintain the structures and facilities that had been used to control Ebola in 2014.
The fight against the Ebola outbreak in Nigeria in 2014 was a combination of chance and a ultimately laudable but rare performance of the country's national disease control system. Nigeria has been able to limit the Ebola outbreak through a combination of factors – laboratory confirmation of outbreaks of Ebola virus disease, rapid declaration of urgency by the government, establishment of an operational center for Ebola emergency and search for contacts.
But shortly after Nigeria was declared free of Ebola, the emergency operation center was closed.
The fact that rodent populations are not controlled is another factor contributing to the persistence of Lbada fever. This is important because rodents are currently considered hosts of the Lbada virus. According to one theory, increased transmission could result from transmission by local populations of rodents, rather than through human-to-human transmission. With Nigeria becoming dirtier every day, there will inevitably be increasing contact between humans and rodents.
Effects of the military rule
In the three decades since Nigeria's independence in 1960, the federal and state governments had effective disease surveillance divisions for disease surveillance, prevention and control. The ability to respond effectively and efficiently to epidemics relies on the strength and effectiveness of disease surveillance at each level of governance.
But the entrenchment of the military and unitary regime has resulted in a gradual disruption of good governance. Under poor political leadership, states abandoned their responsibilities and became totally dependent on the federal government – which in turn depended on foreign aid – to investigate and control diseases.
An overburdened federal government has become unable to maintain quality surveillance, prevention, control and intervention. The result is the current national powerlessness to investigate, detect, confirm and respond effectively to any outbreak.
What needs to be done
To remedy the situation, Nigeria must recognize and understand that it is economically wise to prevent rather than control epidemics. Prevention leads to a significant reduction in the number of disability and death due to disease and can be achieved through reliable, responsive disease surveillance, prevention, control and response.
Therefore, providing adequate funding to maintain and sustain an effective national disease surveillance system supported by a reliable laboratory network service is the first step in ensuring national health security and the protection of Nigerians from the ravages and deaths caused by epidemics. This does not call for dependence on foreign aid and badistance, but on national ownership of disease surveillance and control systems.
Nigeria took the first step toward realizing this vision with the establishment of the Nigerian Center for Disease Control in 2011 to improve country preparedness and response to epidemics through prevention, detection and control. communicable diseases.
The positive effects of the creation of the NCDC are beginning to manifest themselves. Health workers and the public are more aware of Lbada fever. And cases are now being detected more quickly and appropriate action can be taken before more states are infected.
Laboratory diagnosis of Lbada fever is another area of improvement. Prior to 2014 – when the CDC started to raise funds for disease surveillance and coordination of emergency services in the laboratory – the diagnosis of Lbada fever was based primarily on the clinical diagnosis. But since then, the number of suspected cases confirmed in the laboratory is increasing.
The establishment of new legislation under the NCDC is a small but important step. But it's one thing to have a law, it's another to implement it. The Nigerian government must support the political will to improve disease prevention and control through a financial commitment to ensure the sustainability of the NCDC.
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