By Kemi Yesufu
The ECOWAS Regional Centre for Surveillance and Disease Control (RCSDC)Stakeholders on Monday hosted a meeting of regional stakeholders and development partners as part of ensuring health security in the region.
Stakeholders including Directors of National Public Health Institutes in West Africa, representative of the African Centre for Disease Control, representatives of the United States Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (USCDC), representatives of the International Association of National Public Health Institutes (IANPHI). Also at the meeting held in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital were other development partners.
Co-host of Monday’s meeting and the Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Dr Jide Idris said the meeting was convened to bring together national public health institutes across the West African sub region, to address the issue of health security.
“This workshop is strategic collaboration between health organizations, such as West African Health Organizations, the African Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), United States Centre for Disease Control and Prevention(USCDC), among other partners is a testament to our shared commitment to proffer solutions to public health challenges in Africa.
“What do I mean by health security, it is a continuum of things, the underlying fact that every nation has a duty to protect its citizens, protect them from getting any disease. And there are many ways again either you prevent them from catching the disease, or where you do not fully succeed, you prepare them for any emergencies, you prepare them with the techniques to detect diseases or treat them if it is an epidemic, and to respond adequately across the whole country.That is what National Public Health is all about”, he said
“This gathering is a gathering of countries in the sub-regions to share experiences that some countries. There are some countries that have fully established institutes, some in the process of establishing, some not fully established and some who have not started at all. The idea of this gathering is to share knowledge among those who have established, those who are in the process of establishing and those who have not.
“It is to share the knowledge of the processes and how they went about it, the challenges we have faced so that those of them who have not, so that they can go back again and develop such capabilities. And at the same time share lessons from people’s different experiences, to enrich different countries from the experiences of other countries, so that they can be able to tackle health security challenges in the West Africa Sub-region”, Idris added.
On his part, the Director- General of the West African Health Organization, WAHO, Melchior Athanese noted that the gathering provides an opportunity for stakeholders to share ideas and tested methods of managing public health. Athanese was represented by Aisha Bukola Usman.
He said: “Today’s gathering is a testament to our collective commitment to advancing public health in the West African region. The objectives outlined for this meeting are both comprehensive and pivotal in addressing the evolving landscape of public health, fostering collaboration, and driving positive change within our communities.
“The sharing of best practices and lessons learned from established NPHIs in the region is a valuable opportunity for mutual learning and growth. It reflects the spirit of cooperation and knowledge exchange that defines our collective pursuit of excellence in public health initiatives.
“By engaging in open discussions, we have the chance to fortify our existing foundations and identify innovative approaches to address current and anticipated challenges faced by countries in the development of NPHIs.”
He added: “Crucially, the discussions will also center around actions needed to accelerate the establishment and strengthening of NPHIs in West Africa. As leaders in public health, your insights and experiences will play a pivotal role in shaping the future trajectory of NPHI development in our region.
“Furthermore, exploring the roles of WAHO, Africa CDC, and other strategic partners in supporting this acceleration will foster a collaborative environment, ensuring that our shared goals are met with unified efforts.
“The participants here today, comprised of Directors of NPHIs, leaders, Subject matter experts, focal points from existing NPHIs, senior officials from Ministries of Health, and technical and financial partners, represent a diverse and knowledgeable assembly. Together, we can harness this diversity to formulate comprehensive strategies that will pave the way for the effective functioning of NPHIs throughout West Africa and beyond.
“I am particularly grateful to Nigeria CDC DG for accepting to co-host this event and allowing our field visit in his headquarters. I believe this will provide us more pragmatic ways to review routine NPHI operations and advance our deliberations.
“As we embark on this journey of shared learning, collaboration, and strategic planning, let us seize the opportunity to strengthen our regional public health infrastructure and contribute to the well-being of our communities.”
The WAHO helmsman expressed his gratitude to all partners, US CDC, IANPHI, Africa CDC, USAID, UKHSA, GIZ, USAID, WHO, AFENET, RTSL and others
and optimistic of fruitful discussions and outcomes that will undoubtedly emerge from this meeting.
Also speaking at the meeting, Dr Raji Tajudeen, Head, Division of Public Health Institute and Research, the Africa Center for Disease Control (CDC) said, “So this program that we have started today and is going to last four days is about establishment and strengthening of national public health institutions across the 15 member states within the West Africa region”.
He added: “We looked at the different outbreak that have happened in the continent, especially in the region and see what exactly was going to be the best approach to respond to disease outbreak.We realized that the countries that have National Public Health Institute, like Nigeria, CDC, were able to do better, respond better to disease outbreak that those countries that did not have any. So, from there we decided that one of our key agenda will be to support each and every member state on the continent to establish national public institutes, for those who already have support them to strengthen those national public health institutes.
“In terms of advantages, many a times when there is disease outbreak, it takes time for us to detect, it also takes time to respond. Infact it takes much much longer time to rebuild back better, stronger and bolder. But with NPHI and from the experience of those who have NPHI we discovered that that decision delivery time tend to be faster, in terms of utilization of resources it tend to be better. And in terms of rebuilding back using that memory, that experience from those outbreaks, it tends to better when you have outbreaks.
“This is why it is actually good to have NPHI, even when you at in terms of the management of the different partners, because whenever there is any outbreak, you see a lot of partners pour in. So in terms of effectively and efficiently managing those partners, when you have NPHI in place is a lot better than when you don’t have those NPHI”.
For Hellen Whitney of the International Association of National Public Health Institutes (IANPHI), a global network of public health Institutes from around the world, she expressed optimism that at the end the workshop member states of the West Africa region would be equipped with a better understanding of the challenges for establishing and strengthening national public health institutes, learning from their peers who have successfully established a Public Health Institute.
Dr Chukwuma Anyaike, Director, Public Health, Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare said of the meeting, “This gathering is to invite directors of public health across the West African sub region for them to brainstorm, share ideas, share challenges, and able to discuss on the way forward towards solving them.
“Is expected that at the end of this meeting, we would have learned from each other, we would have talked together, and would proffered solutions towards securing the lives of people in the West Africa region, and in Africa in general.”
“To measure how swift, because we are having a multi-sectoral approach to health issues. So you need to gather every person, technical people, the funds, of course, you have to walk on existing framework. So I don’t think delays is a major problem. It is not even in Nigeria, it cuts across every human endeavor and even outside this country.
“So we have called this meeting for us to interact with other countries, other public health institutions in the Sub-Africa region for us to find a way because every country has its own peculiarities.
“But the bottom line is that any disease somewhere exists for every part of this world. We need to work together, the underlined word is collaboration and sharing of knowledge”, he further said.
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