THE Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday announced that the country has recorded a total of 40 confirmed cases of mpox out of 830 suspected cases.
NCDC Director-General, Dr Jide Idris, made this announcement at the Joint NCDC/World Health Organisation National Mpox briefing with stakeholders and partners in Abuja.
The WHO Nigeria Country Office disclosed that Nigeria would be receiving doses of the mpox vaccine through a donation from the United States Government.
Idris noted that an Emergency Operations Centre and an Incident Management System have been established since mpox was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.
Idris explained, “Currently, we have 40 confirmed cases out of 830 suspected cases. We have not recorded any deaths, which is remarkable. We have developed an incident action plan to address each area, using various pillars.
“We have met with state governments and state Commissioners of Health to advise them on establishing their emergency preparedness and response teams, capabilities, and action plans. They will coordinate this with their respective Local Government Areas.
“Another key area is surveillance. Of the 40 cases reported in the country, they are distributed across about 12 or 13 states. Many cases are in the South-South and South-East, with some in Lagos, Ogun, and other northern areas. Our plans are to target these states to reduce the number of cases and conduct active surveillance to detect more cases.”
The NCDC boss also noted that the agency needs to “enhance our laboratory services. All confirmed cases so far were validated using genomic sequencing in two labs — the National Research Lab in Abuja and Lagos. Due to the spread, we need to increase the number of laboratories for testing, including Lagos University Teaching Hospital and the African Centre for Genomics.”
Idris stated that there is a need to boost laboratory capabilities, particularly in the South-South and South-East regions, adding that the centre is intensifying public awareness efforts to educate people about the disease, its symptoms, and preventive measures.
Regarding the challenges faced, he mentioned that the centre is addressing issues related to data collection.
The WHO Country Representative, Dr Walter Mulombo, highlighted the importance of remaining vigilant and monitoring microbes in nature that may cause the disease.
