From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Monday confirmed that the COVID-19 pandemic response recorded the largest political commitment in the history of health system development in Nigeria, due to its global relevance and impact on the economy.
The NCDC said this provided opportunities for prioritising health on the political agenda and attracting the required future investment in health security.
NCDC Director-General Dr Ifedayo Adetifa, in a statement to commemorate the second year anniversary of COVID-19 in Nigeria, charged Nigerians to hold authorities accountable to sustain interest and investment in healthcare in general and particularly for health security.
He recalled that Sunday, February 27, marked exactly two years since the first case of COVID-19 was first detected in Nigeria, and it was largely aided by the prompt notification of health authorities by an astute attending physician.
‘Since then, Nigeria has confirmed an excess of 250,000 cases, recorded over 3,000 deaths, and learnt major lessons in its bid to strengthen the country’s health system to cope with other infectious diseases and future health emergencies,’ he stated.
The NCDC boss stated that prior to COVID-19, the world was preparing for a possible influenza pandemic, yet the arrival of COVID-19 highlighted inadequacies in global pandemic preparedness.
‘Being that the world is now a global village, we are at constant risk of public health emergencies that have the potential to greatly disrupt lives and livelihoods like COVID-19 did.
‘This makes it critical to learn from lessons taught by this pandemic to strengthen preparedness and response to other diseases in line with our mandate. We have continued to face outbreaks of cholera and Lassa fever concurrently with the COVID-19 pandemic.’
He maintained that NCDC is committed to its mandate to lead on the preparedness, detection, and response to disease outbreaks of public health importance and to mitigate the health impact of public health emergencies/disasters.
He further explained that in the last five years, several efforts have been made towards improving the health system, as well as increased investment in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
He added that during the COVID-19 pandemic, NCDC supported the establishment of infectious disease treatment centres, molecular laboratories, and public health emergency operation centres in all states, and provided equipment required for critical care in hospitals, notably, dialysis machines.