THE Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has increased surveillance against possible outbreak of infectious diseases, including cholera, monkey pox, ebola, measles and COVID-19 in the nation’s capital.
Director, FCT Public Health Department Saddiq Abdulrrahman disclosed this to journalists, saying although no major incidents had been recorded, proactive measures are being taken against any outbreak.
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“For Ebola viral disease, which is a big global disease of public health concern, though it is not yet witnessed in Nigeria except for the last case in 2014, we are aware that there is already an outbreak in DRC Congo, with so much consequences from quite a number of deaths, and closure of schools. So here, we have executed a high alert mode even though we have not witnessed any case yet.
“So, proactive measures have been taken. Our surveillance system is heightened, and the FCT Administration bought quite a number of commodities, particularly for these key diseases, like Cholera, that we witnessed in 2021. We went on advocacy visits to key stakeholders, especially in those area councils that had high potent of the disease during the outbreak, such as AMAC, Kuje and Bwari,” he said.
The director also noted that there were ongoing training sessions for health workers, as well as awareness campaigns targeted at residents in the grassroots to cushion effects of possible disease outbreaks.
“For cerebral spinal meningitis, from January to date, we witnessed zero case; for cholera, we witnessed only two suspected cases and zero laboratory confirmed. And for viral hemorrhagic fever, especially Lassa fever, which is endemic, we had 11 suspected cases and only one laboratory confirmed with no death.
“For measles, we had about 245 suspected cases and zero laboratory confirmed. And for monkey pox, which had brought a wave in recent past, cumulatively, we had about 58 suspected cases, with nine confirmed in the FCT from January to date,” he added.
Abdulrahaman noted that although the government had relaxed COVID-19 guidelines and related travel advisories, residents were still required to adhere to precautionary measures due to a resurgence of the disease in other countries.
Ijeoma Opara is a journalist with The ICIR. Reach her via vopara@icirnigeria.org or @ije_le on Twitter.