‘Response to outbreaks is weakened where female talent, expertise and diverse perspectives are excluded’ – Roopa Dhatt Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, women have been doing back-breaking work to strengthen Nigeria’s public health systems: from being homemakers to often being the first-level caregivers to making up a greater ratio of healthcare providers. Unvoiced, unheard, over-mentored…
Making People Part of the Process: Strengthening Cross-Border Collaborations for Health Security Through Community Involvement
“Go to the people. Live with them. Learn from them. Love them. Start with what they know. Build with what they have. …When the work is done, the task accomplished, the people will say ‘We have done this ourselves.” –Lao Tzu Imagine if it was possible for all travelers moving from one country to another…
Let’s Do More: Onboarding 13 Team Members to Boost Our Health Security Work in Nigeria
“Even the great get greater by doing more of it” –Colleen Wainwright It takes only about 36 hours for an infectious disease to spread through our borders. Nigeria is vulnerable to these health threats because of our tropical climate, high population density, and constant movement across borders. Preparing for the next outbreak or public health…
Supporting Port Health Workers at 15 Points of Entry
Nigeria has numerous points of entry into the country which makes our nation porous and vulnerable. As the COVID-19 pandemic has clearly demonstrated, these points of entry can be the perfect places for infectious diseases to enter the country through passengers, animals, food, and other cargo. Because points of entry are very critical to the…
Preparing for a Public Health Emergency at Nigeria’s Largest Seaport
Seaports are major points of entry where vessels load and unload cargo and passengers. So what happens if a ship arrives in a Nigerian seaport and the crew members are sick with an infectious disease? If not quickly identified and properly managed, these kinds of health emergencies and disasters at seaports – from infectious disease…
Training Lagos State’s Infectious Disease Hospital Staff
Did you know there is an infectious disease hospital in Lagos state? It’s called Mainland Hospital and it’s located in Yaba, Lagos. With the world now facing a possible pandemic with the new coronavirus COVID-19 that’s rapidly spreading around the globe, there was an urgent need to conduct an emergency training for frontline health workers…
Lagos Gets Prepared with a State of the Art Biobank
The room was full of top professionals ranging from medical doctors, nurses, biomedical and mechanical engineers to nurses, veterinary doctors, laboratory technologists and pharmacists, as we attended the Civic Engagement and Stakeholders’ Meeting on the Lagos State Biosecurity Initiative which was organized by the Lagos State Ministry of Health. So what is the Lagos State…
Exploring Emerging Infectious Diseases & Biosecurity with GET Africa
From the 16th – 18th of August we attended the 3rd African Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity in Accra, Ghana. The conference was hosted by the Global Emerging Pathogens Treatment (GET) Consortium. Attendees included representatives from the biotechnology, biosecurity, and biobanking industries; health economists; bioethicists; engineers; government representatives from various African and European…