Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has warned against travelling to Uganda except for an essential reason due to the outbreak of the Sudan strain Ebola virus disease (EVD) in the country since it was first officially declared on September 20, 2022.
In a disclosure on Monday, the NCDC said Nigerian citizens should await the containment of the disease by the country’s public health authorities.
When travel to Uganda is unavoidable, travellers are advised to avoid contact with obviously sick persons or suspected cases of Ebola.
It announced that the Port Health Services of the Federal Ministry of Health has scaled up the screening of passengers returning from Uganda at points of entry.
As of October 29, 2022, the Uganda Ministry of Health had reported 128 confirmed cases and 34 deaths.
The NCDC, through the National Emerging Viral Haemorrhagic Disease Technical Working Group, met on September 29, 2022, to assess the risk of importation of EVD to Nigeria and the potential impact to inform in-country preparedness activities. Based on available data and risk assessment conducted, Nigeria is at HIGH risk of importation of the virus.
This risk is due to the large volume of air travel between Nigeria and Uganda and the mixing of passengers, especially at the regional travel hubs of Nairobi, Addis Ababa, and Kigali airports, and the additional risk from other neighbouring countries that share a direct border with Uganda should cases arise in other countries in the region.
The disease control body noted that outputs from this risk assessment are being used to initiate preparedness activities in-country.
Several measures have been put in place to prevent and mitigate the impact of a potential EVD outbreak in Nigeria.
The NCDC noted that the Incident Coordination Centre (ICC) is now in alert mode, while the development of an incident action plan for the first few cases of EVD has commenced as well as surveillance has been heightened using the passenger pre-boarding health declaration and screening form in the Nigeria International Travel Portal (NITP) platform.
Passengers arriving from Uganda and persons who transited in Uganda are being followed up for 21 days after they arrive in Nigeria for their health status, while trained Rapid Response Teams are on standby to be deployed in the event of an outbreak.
All State Public Health Emergency Operations Centres (PHEOCs) have also been put on alert mode with a medical countermeasures plan.
There is also the amplification of risk communication and engagement with states and partners to strengthen preparedness activities which include– a review of risk communication protocols, plans, and messages in the event of an outbreak.
NCDC also revealed that Nigeria has an active infection prevention and control (IPC) programme nationwide with guidelines and training packages developed for healthcare workers.
