Adedavoh: Experts brainstorm on containment of contagious diseases

By Prisca Sam-Duru

Experts in the health sector yesterday in Lagos, held a panel on the need to put facilities in place to ensure the country is prepared to contain any outbreak of contagious diseases in the future.

The event tagged, ‘Public Health: It Starts With Me’ was organized by Quramo Publishers in collaboration with Dr Ameyo Stella Adedavoh (DRASA) Health Trust as part of activities lined up to mark the 3rd year since Ebola entered Nigeria and the gallant effort of the heroine, Dr Ameyo Adedavoh in halting its further spread.

Among those in attendance at the event were, Hon Commissioner Health Lagos State, Dr Jide Idris; Executive Director, Patnerships Public Health Scientific Affairs Merck & Co. Inc, Dr Joan Benson; Founder/CEO Merit HealthCare Ltd, Dr Lolu Ojo; Professor of Pathology, Unicersiyy of Pennyslavania, Dr Glenn Gaulton etc, as well as a team of health personnel from US and Liberia.

At the end of the panel discussion which revolved around topics such as, health development, public health law, emergency preparedness, private sector involvement, among others, key recommendations necessary for  combating the outbreak of communal diseases were made.

In his speech, the keynote speaker, Dr Jide Idris noted that  “there are serious issues in the health system that need to be addressed. Ebola virus in Nigeria taught us a lot of lessons, especially on our preparedness for any future outbreaks. It may not be Ebola but something else and it could be manipulated to put the country on a dangerous state. We have a fragile health system and so need collaboration with private health system to strengthen what we have on ground.”

He described the forum created by DRASA, as vital to improvement of health system needed to forge ahead in terms of building capacity to ensure containment of any outbreak of diseases.

“As a state, Lagos did not plan for Ebola but we planned proactively to mitigate any disaster that may occur. The facility may not be perfect yet, but we are improving to cover vulnerability especially on collaboration to upgrade our health facilities.

On the role of Pharmaceuticals in the event of future outbreaks of disease in the country, Dr Lolu Ojo hinted that the major challenge in containing outbreaks is the issue of self medication. He noted that ignorance, poverty, system failure, and non availability of medical personnel are reasons people self medicate.

 

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