Following inadequacies in the management of emergencies, the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) with the support of the World Health Organisation (WHO), will within a two-year timeline develop a robust roadmap of response activities in health emergencies.
Making this disclosure Monday, the coordinator for the Africa Volunteer for Sustaining Strengthening and Utilising Response Groups for Emergencies (SURGE) in Nigeria, Dr. Kumshida Balami, said WHO is giving its technical support and contributions in the areas of supporting the FCT with a digital learning platform for health emergency coordination.
Balami, who is of WHO Nigeria Country Office, who spoke during a disease surveillance refresher training organised as part of the scoping mission programme, in Abuja, added that WHO will train minimum of 80 responders in the FCT who are ready and prepared to respond to health emergencies within 24-48 hours.
She said, in the course of the week, they are basically conducting a scoping mission in the FCT to be able to assess the status of the FCT capacity in response to health emergencies.
“During emergency response, we have observed limited or short supply in terms of consumables needed to be able to attend to the high risk groups or those affected. Together with the FCTA, we would develop a roadmap to be able to implement these activities.
“Findings from this workshop, will help us together with the government to develop a roadmap of activities with timeline and responsible officers as well as develop a monitoring and evaluation framework for those activities to be implemented within the timeframe of two years”, she stated.
Similarly, director, Port Health Services, Federal Ministry of Health, Dr. Nse Akpan, said the programme of scoping mission is to ensure that we have a robust team that tackles all public health emergencies.