The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, (U.S CDC) and Pro Health International has reiterated their commitment to fortifying Nigeria’s border health security.
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The U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Global Health Protection Programme Director, Dr. Farah Husain made this known during a media round table session in Abuja, the nations capital.
Emphasizing the critical role of border health in preventing the spread of diseases, Dr. Husain highlighted the need for well-trained staff, up-to-date plans, and effective implementation of laws and regulations.
Dr. Husain explained that achieving global health security starts with achieving strong border health security.
She said border health was critical in identifying and addressing risks associated with the spread of disease among travelers coming into and going out of the country.
“It is the gateway from a small outbreak to becoming a global pandemic. Robust border health systems require up to date plans and procedures and they require well trained staff, laws, policies, regulations that enforce to implement travel measures, affecting the movement of people and goods for public health purposes.
“US CDC through our partner, Pro-health International supported Port Health Services to achieve many of these activities which we would highlight today and these achievements are reflected in the recent JEE score. There’s still a lot of work to be done, I want to reiterate that CDC would continue to remain a committed partner to the government of Nigeria with port health services to help the country prevent, detect and respond to these public health threats,” She added.
The Director of Port Health Services in the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Akpan Nsibong who appreciated the USCDC’s support said, “If we are not able to tackle the health security of every citizen of this country, then we stand the chance of rendering the health of every Nigerian to a very big risk.”
Dr. Nsibong however, pleaded with the US CDC to expand its work and have wider coverage.
“We want to ensure that we have the presence of Pro-Health in all our Points Of Entry (POEs) especially to strengthen the surveillance more than what we have. This is important because we cannot predict the next disease outbreak in the country.
“And if we cannot contain any of these diseases in Nigeria, then we are automatically putting Africa, especially our neighbouring countries at risk.
“We still have a challenge as a country on the issue of cross border surveillance. In country, there is still some point of entry that we still need to strengthen,” he added.
Highlighting some of the challenges faced at the country’s entry points, Dr. Nsibong explained that, “We still have challenges, in some of the POE we have in this country, we tend to ignore, in Nigeria today, there are some point of entry that are enclosed and not known officially to the government. We have about 60 POEs but the illegal ones can be a threat to the country.”
The Senior Emergency Management Specialists, Dr. Saleh Mohammed presented a comprehensive overview of ongoing efforts and future plans, underscoring the collaborative commitment to help Nigeria prevent, detect, and respond to public health challenges.
Dr. Mohammed said Nigeria has made substantial gains in improving its border health security and can serve as model for the West Africa region.
“US CDC will continue to support the Government of Nigeria to strengthen its core capacities in surveillance, laboratory, workforce development, and emergency preparedness and response to combat public health threats across POEs in Nigeria,” he said.
The event marked another step forward in the joint mission to achieve and maintain robust border health security.
