Concerned that Africa, particularly
Nigeria, is still vulnerable to emerging epidemics such as the Ebola
Virus Disease, Lassa fever, Zika virus and others, a public health
expert based in the United States, Dr. Babajide Sadiq, has warned that
government at all levels must introduce adequate steps to prevent a
re-occurrence.
Sadiq, who is currently the Health
Equity Epidemiologist for the State of Texas, said he had developed a
strategy called the Evidence-Based Model that would assist the country
in checking disease outbreaks.
He said, “The Evidence Based Model in
public health is what they use in developed countries. It involves
employing the disease surveillance system in Nigeria, data collection
and the healthcare management system. Following the absence of a proper
health data system in Nigeria, my team and I want to design a good one.
“If we have the model in place, we would
have adequate information on certain diseases, epidemics and the region
or persons who are most vulnerable to contracting it. Our plan is to
run the programme for two to three years in Nigeria.”
Working in partnership with the Bill
Gates Foundation and similar non-governmental organisations, Sadiq, who
is also the co-founder of Genii ‘Geniuses’ Associates, a global health
consulting outfit, said the research would start in communities and
rural areas of the country.
Sadiq said Nigeria was chosen to execute
the project due to its laudable efforts in checking the EVD. He called
on Nigerian scientists in the Diaspora to contribute their quota to the
health sector.
“I have worked for the Centre for
Disease Control and I have managed over 10 million data sets in Florida.
But if everybody keeps saying they don’t want to come back home, who is
going to fix the problem?
“The reports from the World Health
Organisation about developing countries are not favourable. There are
always cases of cholera, malaria, diarrhoea and so on. I have my family
members who live in Nigeria and if somebody calls me to say that someone
is knocked down by any of these diseases, it would affect me
psychologically. I’m working with some experts with over 35 years’
experience.”
The scientist said the organisation was
set to convene a health summit in December, which will focus on the
management and prevention of disease outbreaks.
“This conference will enable experts
from different countries to exchange ideas on how to detect epidemic,
how to develop our capacity for rapid diagnosis and how we can develop
our capacity for rapid case detection.
“Other aims include contact tracing,
disease surveillance, biosecurity and biosafety, detecting biological
trace, vaccine strategy and preventive measures,” Sadiq added. (Punch)
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