Nigeria has so far recorded one hundred and twenty deaths from Lassa fever since the beginning of the year(2022).
The Director General of the Nigeria Center for the Disease Control, NCDC, Dr Ifedayo Adetifa stated this at the bi-monthly press briefing of the Ministry of Health in Abuja.
Dr Adetifa urged Nigerians not to relent in been cautious of the covid-19 despite a seeming decline in case fatalities and the review of the travel restrictions.
He said the NCDC was doing everything possible to respond adequately to other diseases such as Lassa fever which have become worrisome.
At the Press briefing
“As at last week, we had 659 confirmed cases of lassa fever in over 23 states and sadly with a case fatality rate of 19%, which is about 120 deaths so far. We also recorded about 2 cases and further deaths in healthcare workers which continues to be a form of distress to the response team.”
The Executive Secretary, National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, NPHCDA, Dr Faisal shuaib, represented by a Director in the Agency, Dr Nneka Onu who gave an update on the vaccine drive, said there are over 28 million vaccine stock balance in the reserves.
She noted that the Primary healthcare summit held last week have started yielding results as most private sector organizations had began to respond to their commitments.
For the Coordinator, National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control Programme, NTBLCP, Dr Chukwuma Anyeike, their was need to increase investment on the diagnostics platform to improve case findings.
On his part, the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, announced a new department of public private partnership Diaspora unit headed by Mr Lawal Bala to oversee the knowledge and skill repatriation from Nigerian medical practitioners living abroad.
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