FG vows to stop further spread of Lassa fever

Minister of Health Prof. Isaac Adewole has assured Nigerians that Lassa fever will be eradicated this year.

He spoke to State House correspondents after witnessing the signing ceremony of the updated Abuja commitment on polio eradication at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The Federal Government, the minister said, would set up 10,000 Primary Health care Centres (PHCs) in the 109 senatorial districts to tackle the disease. 

He said the first 5,000 centres would be established this year, starting with Fika in Borno State, where the disease was first discovered.

Adewole said: “We inaugurated a Lassa fever eradication committee, chaired by one of the foremost virologists in this country and we are committed to signing the obituary of the Lassa fever this year.

“What we want to do is put across some innovative funding mechanisms, ability to manage and put to use 10,000 primary health care centres over the next two years. In the 100 days, we will launch 110 of these centres. We will start with Fika, where we had this outbreak.

“We will do one per senatorial district of 109 to make 110 in 100 days. This year, we will do 5,000.”

The minister said the country did not record a resurgence of Lassa fever.

But he said the disease was endemic in Nigeria, stressing that this will be the first time the government is being transparent about the disease.

Adewole denied that there were hidden cases in the past, but decried what he called a culture of silence in handling the case.

“Not that they were hidden, but they were never brought to public knowledge. There is also what we can consider to be the culture of silence in some states. For example, we recognised Ebonyi State as one of the endemic states.

“And since the outbreak, Ebonyi has not recorded a single case or report a single case. We despatched our surveillance team to Ebonyi and we discovered five cases,” he said.

The minister debunked insinuations that the disease was being given less attention compared to the Ebola virus.

“We cannot win the battle against Lassa fever the same way we won the one against Ebola. Ebola happened to be a single importation to Nigeria.

“Lassa fever is endemic in Nigeria. In 2012, we had an upsurge in 26 states. So, it is there. But I can assure you that with what we put in place this year, we will sign it off,” he said.

On polio, the minister expressed happiness that no new case had been recorded in the last one year.

But the minister, in a statement by his Director of Press, Mrs. Boade Akinola, said a committee on PHCs would be chaired by Prof. Michael Asuzu, a professor of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of Ibadan. It has 11 members.