The Federal Government of Nigeria has issued a directive for all states to establish their own emergency preparedness and response teams to address the increasing Mpox cases across the country.
This initiative, backed by the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), is a response to the rising number of confirmed cases, which has now reached 40 out of 830 suspected cases.
Dr. Jide Idris, the Director General of the NCDC, disclosed during a joint briefing with the World Health Organization (WHO) and other stakeholders in Abuja that the government is prioritizing enhanced surveillance and laboratory capabilities to manage the spread of the disease.
“Looking at the number of cases we have in the country, which is about 40, quite a number of them are in about 12 or 13 states. A number of the cases are in the South-South, South-East, some in Lagos, Ogun, and up north there. Our plans now are to target those states so that we can reduce the number of cases through active surveillance to detect more cases,” Dr. Idris explained.
He further emphasized the need to strengthen laboratory services across the country, particularly in the South-South and South-East regions. “We have to beef up our laboratory services. All the cases we have seen so far were confirmed using genomic sequencing in two labs, the National Research Lab in Abuja and in Lagos. But because of the spread, we need to increase the number of laboratories we’re going to use to test,” Dr. Idris added.
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The NCDC has also met with state governors and health commissioners to ensure the proper setup of these emergency centers.
Additionally, the NCDC is enhancing its public awareness campaigns to educate the population on Mpox prevention measures. Dr. Idris noted, “More importantly, we need to increase all the laboratory capabilities, especially in the South-South, South-East area. We also know that in our network, quite several laboratories can do PCR, but they may not be able to test for Mpox. So we need to beef up those capabilities, either by training or by supplying them with necessary reagents and consumables.”
The urgency of the situation has also drawn international attention, with the United States government announcing plans to send Mpox vaccines to Nigeria to aid in the containment efforts. The U.S. involvement reflects global concern over the potential spread of the disease beyond Nigeria’s borders.
In addition to these measures, the NCDC is considering expanding its testing facilities to include more laboratories, such as the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) and the African Center for Genomics (ACG), to ensure a wider reach in detecting and managing new cases. “We’ve identified several laboratories and are looking into that,”Dr. Idris remarked.
