CITAD calls on the federal government to take measures in curbing the spread of monkeypox

 The Centre for Information Technology and Development, CITAD, has called on the federal government to urgently take appropriate steps to prevent the spread.  Hamza Ibrahim, CITAD's coordinator of public education on the COVID19 vaccine project, announced while addressing journalists in Kano. Ibrahim said the experience of COVID-19 is still fresh and should not be forgotten, so the government must treat the monkeypox outbreak with public health urgency. According to him, “The monkeypox virus was recently detected in some West and Central African countries, triggering an emergency public health crisis. Health authorities in these countries have tried to contain the spread of the virus. Fatalities have been recorded so far as measures to combat the killer virus are put in place to halt the new surge. In Nigeria, the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) has confirmed the record of monkeypox cases in eight states, including the Federal Capital Territory, FCT. "The detection of the virus should be an alarm for the NCDC in particular and we would like to urge the centre to deploy an active monitoring mechanism across the association to contain the further spread of the virus.

“In doing so, we recommend that the NCDC review its 2019 National Monkeypox Public Health Response Guidelines to reflect deepening synergies with state governments in responding to suspected cases for proper detection, reporting and communication for rapid action. "Likewise, we would like to urge the NCDC to work with state governments to develop means of educating the public about the symptoms of the virus and actions to take if they notice people or animals with symptoms of the virus in their area." Public education and awareness-raising about the virus should include the use of indigenous languages and English to address all Nigerians. Recall that states, where the outbreak has been recorded, include Adamawa with five cases, Lagos with four, Bayelsa with two, Delta with two, Cross River with two, FCT with two, Kano with two, Imo with two and Rivers with one, according to NCDC. Similarly, according to the NCDC, of the 21 cases reported, a 40-year-old patient who had underlying comorbidity and was taking immunosuppressive medications was reported to have died.

Source