US CDC Trains 55 Experts In Public Health Emergency Management

Ekene Okafor, Lagos

Fifty-five experts have upgraded their skills in public health emergency management, PHEM organised by the United States Centre for Disease and Control US CDC and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) for prompt response to public health emergencies.

The graduation of the 55 public health experts was held in Lagos alongside a media round table where some achievement of the programme where highlighted.

The US CDC programme Director Global Health Protection, Dr. Farah Husain during said the US CDC has supported Nigeria’s global health security agenda and efforts to achieve the 2024 targets impact of collaboration in advancing public health.

Dr. Husain emphasised that the US CDC, through its Global Health Security funding, is building capacity and supporting national and state-level disease outbreak response.

She said; “CDC will continue to collaborate with Nigeria and Centre for Disease and Control, state ministries of health and CDC implementing partners to deliver this important programme and help strengthen work capacities outlines and the IHR requirements for improved disease outbreak response in Nigeria.”

Highlighting further on some of their achievements, Dr. Muhammad Saleh of US CDC said to experience multiple disease outbreaks, the need to build public health experts’ capacity in emergency preparedness and response is very critical.

Saleh stressed that building capacity had become necessary as Nigeria continued to experience multiple disease outbreaks.

According to him, “Nigeria has been a Global Health Security Agenda partner country since 2019 and is committed to attaining the goal of “making the world safe and secure from global health threats posed by infectious diseases.”

Saleh noted that out of the 223 international public health emergency management PHEM fellows from 49 countries trained by CDC in Atlanta, U.S., only seven were from Nigeria, creating the need to locally expand PHEM capacity to support the operations of these PHEOCS.

He emphasised that through the PHEM programme, the U.S. CDC prioritises building capacity in Nigeria.

“Catastrophic events like pandemics, natural disasters and emergence (re- emergence) of high-threat disease can affect any country any time.

“The PHEM programme contributes to achieving a stronger public health workforce that can adequately respond to health emergencies.

“It improves public health personnel’s knowledge, skills and attitudes toward emergencies.

“It helps build a culture of emergency management and resiliency for stakeholders.

“It provides specialised training in PHEM care capabilities that are critical to preparedness and response,” Saleh said

According to him, since 2017, no fewer than 200 Nigerian public health staff have been trained, with 55 more now, contributing to emergency preparedness and response.

He said that “the programme, divided into basic, intermediate, and advanced levels, had enhanced Nigeria’s capacity to manage outbreaks, including meningitis, diphtheria, and Covid-19.”

On the Return on Investment, he said the U.S. government’s investment in Nigeria had led to significant returns, including the detection and management of various outbreaks.

“The programme has also facilitated regional and international knowledge sharing, contributing to Nigeria’s improvement in joint external evaluations from 39 per cent to 54 per cent.

“The U.S. government has contributed over $2 million to support these efforts.

He promised that the PHEM programme would continue to train and impact the country and continent, with 60 cohort members already contributing to public health.

The senior special assistant to Lagos Governor on Health, Oluwatoni Adeyemi in her speech said the collaboration between the United States Centre for Disease Control, NCDC and the Nigerian government is something that’s critical in advancing Nigeria health system.

Adeyemi said;” We all know how we’ve been plagued with so many public health emergencies of late, unfortunately Lagos State is the epicenter for some of this epidemic. When COVID came, we were hit. Ebola was the same thing. So we’re glad that this training is taking place here. The public health emergency program, as we all are aware, is instrumental and a key pillar to ensure that we have the capacity to detect, to respond and also manage public health crisis effectively.”

She said that with the ever-evolving global health landscape, a well-trained workforce is very important in Lagos State and Nigeria.

“It is very gladdening to see the progress that has been made through this programme which I’m made to understand has started since 2019. Its impact in Nigeria, even at sub-national levels and state levels are far-reaching, and we are glad that Lagos State is also a beneficiary.”

 

 

 

Mercy Chukwudiebere