ABUJA (Sundiata Post) – The Federal Government has urged the Nigerian Armed Forces to conduct research towards production of effective vaccine against Lassa fever, Zika virus and other diseases that threaten the life of its personnel and civil populace.
This charge was given on Monday by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defence (MOD), Ambassador Danjuma Sheni, during the opening of a seven-day training session on; “Disease Outbreak Investigation and Management for the Armed Forces Personnel”, organised by the Health Implementation Programme (HIP).
Sheni who was represented by the Head of Medical Services at the MOD, Dr. Oluwatosin Akinlade, said that the training was very timely in view of the recent outbreak of the Lassa Fever and the rapid spreading Zika Virus disease in the Americas.
“You will all agree with me that this session is very timely in view of the current fight against Lassa Fever and associated diseases including the case in far away America with the outbreak of the dreaded Zika virus disease”, he said.
The Permanent Secretary also commended the military for their successful efforts through research and other activities aimed at tackling the dreaded diseases.
He said: “It is gratifying to note that over the years, the activities of the programme had focused on other diseases including Tuberculosis, Malaria, and Ebola amongst others, with tremendous successes.
“The significant reduction in the prevalence of HIV/AIDS among the Armed forces personnel and the conduct of a study on Ebola vaccine are some of the very significant achievements of the Nigerian MOD-United States Department of Defence (NMOD-USDOD) partnership.”
“I wish at this juncture to charge the Director-General and his team to keep up the work assiduously looking into other areas as new cases of unfamiliar diseases are ravaging mankind.
“I am pleased to noted that in spite of these challenges, new innovations through Research are being conducted daily to proffer lasting solutions to these problems,” he added.
Sheni also urged the military authorities to use the training to focus on: Increasing critical knowledge and operational skills of Armed forces personnel in outbreak management; establishment of effective disease surveillance mechanism in all barracks/basic in synergy with the local, state health authorities; strengthening laboratory capacity to conduct basic diagnostic investigations; and establishing relationship with key stakeholders within the framework of the Ministry of Health.
In the same vein, the Director-General of HIP, Brig-Gen. Nurudeen Hussain, said that the NMOD-USDOD HIV Programme, is a military to military collaboration, established in 2005 with the primary aim of curtailing the scourge of HIV/AIDS among troops and their families.
Hussain noted that “having recorded significant success in HIV control (judging from its prevalence of 2.5 per cent which is below national average), the Programme’s mandate has increased to included diseases of public health and military significance and research”.
He listed the diseases in focus to include malaria, tuberculosis and viral haemorrhagic fever such as Ebola, Lassa Fever, and Yellow Fever.
According to him, “one of the latest research by NMOD-USDOD Walter Reed Programme-Nigeria is the Ebola vaccine study from April-December, 2015 in which 313,000 volunteers participated”.
Also, he said, a training on another multi-country Ebola Vaccine study was conducted last week in the hi-tech Defence Reference Laboratory and Clinical Research Centre, Abuja, and it will commence in March, 2016.
“With the emerging and re-emerging diseases in Nigeria (and West Africa) coupled with the troop’s involvement in the regional peace efforts, it is apt to build capacity of Armed Forces health personnel towards health promotion and disease prevention,” Hussain stated.
