Mpox : Federal Govt tells States what to do as U.S. offers Vaccine support
In an effort to control the Mpox outbreak, the federal government has instructed states to establish emergency preparedness and response teams, develop their capabilities, and create action plans, with guidance from the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). This directive follows a rise in confirmed cases to 40 out of 830 suspected instances.
Concerns over the escalating situation have prompted the United States Government to offer Mpox vaccine doses to Nigeria to aid in curbing the spread.
At a joint briefing with stakeholders and partners in Abuja on Friday, Dr. Jide Idris, Director General of the NCDC, reported that the NCDC has already engaged with state governors and health commissioners to emphasize the importance of these preparedness centers.
” 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 and looking at the distribution, our plans now are to target those states so that we can reduce the number of cases through active surveillance to detect more cases.
“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, of what is happening, we need to increase the number of laboratories we’re going to use to test. So we are including LUTH and the African Center for Genomics (ACG).
“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. We’ve identified several laboratories who are looking into that”,he said.
He mentioned that the NCDC is ramping up its public awareness efforts to inform people about the necessary precautions for their safety.
He said: ”The spread is based on contact with infected animals or infected humans.So once you can reduce, and stop that contact, the transmission can easily be done. Although there are some cases, especially those caused by clade 1B, that have sexual transmission, and also some airborne. And that’s why, again, people, that’s the essence of this public enlightenment, public awareness, which we need to intensify.
“There are some challenges we have, we were addressing in terms of data collection, for instance. We know that there are three states we have not reported anything, some states may not report these cases because of stigma issues, or we consider it as not visible to them. Like we did for cholera, we are sending people out. We hope to get more cases, the objective is to reduce the number of cases but we need to intensify active search. All the cases we have here are the clade 2B type, the less serious type, but we also have to be on the alert for clade 1B”.
At the event attended by numerous health sector stakeholders, Dr. Walter Mulombo, WHO Country Representative, acknowledged the significant demand for the Mpox vaccine in Nigeria. However, he noted with regret that the current vaccine supply falls short of meeting this demand.
Dr. Mulombo explained that the existing manufacturer’s capacity is insufficient to address global needs without additional intervention. He also urged Nigeria to expand its network of laboratories to enhance case detection.
He said:”We showed that the epicentre for this new emergency of international concern is in Central Africa and neighbouring countries. It’s triggered by the appearance of the new gladiator. It’s an opportunity. So, it’s ringing the bell on the need to remain vigilant and continue to monitor microbes in nature causing the disease.
“So, we were able to show the picture in Africa, also outside Africa, where we have observed already cases in Europe and now in Asia. And of course, Nigeria is not high risk, it’s moderate risk, but we need to continue to remain vigilant because we’ve cases reported as far as Europe or Asia and Nigeria is not safe until all countries are safe.”
