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Nigeria’s months of preparation for a possible Ebola outbreak helped health authorities confirm the country’s first imported case within 24 hours, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Pate, has said.
Speaking on Arise News Television’s Prime Time programme Wednesday, Professor Pate said the government had strengthened disease surveillance, expanded laboratory capacity, trained health workers and assessed states’ readiness before the case was detected.
He said these preparations enabled authorities to respond quickly, confirm the infection, and notify the World Health Organisation (WHO) in accordance with the International Health Regulations.
“Within 24 hours, we were able to confirm it. We were able to notify the World Health Organisation as required by the International Health Regulations,” he said.
He described the response as a continuation of Nigeria’s experience in managing public health emergencies, recalling how the country contained the Ebola outbreak in 2014.
He said Nigeria has since strengthened its emergency response capabilities, drawing on lessons and capacities developed during previous public health interventions, including the country’s polio eradication efforts.
Nigeria confirmed an imported case of Ebola Tuesday, involving a woman who recently arrived in the country on an international flight from Uganda.
The patient is receiving treatment in isolation at a private hospital in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The Director-General of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), Jean Kaseya, subsequently stated that the patient is the wife of a diplomat who travelled to Uganda’s capital, Kampala, for a holiday.
Kaseya said the woman, originally from Uganda but resident in Abuja, developed symptoms three days after returning to Nigeria on 3 October.
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