Nigeria has the capacity to contain the Ebola outbreak, but experts have called for better communication, stronger disease surveillance and improved coordination to prevent further spread.
Speaking during an interview with Arise News on Thursday, Dr Olayinka Ilesanmi, an epidemiologist and former West Africa Regional Programme Lead for the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, said Nigeria had trained personnel and the experience needed to manage the outbreak. Professor Adamu Akyala, a Professor of Infectious Diseases Epidemiology, raised concerns about gaps in the country’s surveillance system, particularly in private hospitals and contact tracing.
Nigeria Has The Capacity To Curb Ebola
Ilesanmi said Nigeria was doing well in its response but needed to address inconsistencies in information coming from officials and partner organisations.
He said conflicting accounts of the index case’s travel history could undermine public confidence, stressing the need to verify information before sharing it with the public.
“The communication has to be centralized,” he said, adding that information from the Africa CDC, health authorities and other partners needed to be aligned.
Ilesanmi said Nigeria had trained field epidemiologists and other personnel whose experience from previous outbreaks could support the current response.
He also called for stronger collaboration between Nigeria, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and other relevant parties to establish the index case’s travel history and identify additional contacts.
“There is a need for cross-border collaboration,” he said, adding that airlines and disease control authorities should work together to establish the passenger’s movements and possible exposures.
Akyala Faults Surveillance Gaps
Akyala said the index case’s movements through an international airport and multiple healthcare facilities highlighted weaknesses in Nigeria’s disease surveillance system.
He said the woman had travelled from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Uganda before flying to Abuja, where she encountered people at the airport and later visited several medical facilities before her diagnosis was confirmed.
According to Akyala, the case exposed gaps in the identification and monitoring of people who might have come into contact with the patient.
“Our surveillance system is not active,” he said, arguing that a stronger system should have identified more contacts linked to the international flight and the healthcare facilities the patient visited.
Akyala also questioned the emphasis on public hospitals in existing surveillance practices, saying private healthcare facilities needed to be more effectively incorporated.
“It is on record that most of our surveillance system tools tend to focus more on public hospitals than on private hospitals,” he said.
He called for a shift towards surveillance systems that cover both private and public hospitals, noting that the index cases associated with Ebola in 2014, COVID-19 and the current Ebola outbreak had involved private healthcare facilities.
Experts Call For Vaccine Investment And Public Awareness
Akyala said Nigeria needed to invest in vaccine research and development, particularly for diseases that affect the country and other parts of Africa.
He recalled that Nigeria previously produced yellow fever vaccines but had not recovered that capacity, calling for a presidential initiative to support vaccine development and encourage Nigerian scientists working abroad to return.
He also argued that Ebola should not be treated as exclusively an African problem because international travel could facilitate its spread beyond the continent.
On whether the government should ban public gatherings, Akyala said such a measure was not necessary at the moment.
“No need to place a ban for now,” he said, advocating increased public awareness and more effective communication instead.
Ilesanmi similarly cautioned against excessive reactions, urging Nigerians to seek medical attention when people around them develop symptoms that could indicate Ebola.
He said symptoms such as fever, severe headache, body weakness, vomiting and diarrhoea should not be managed at home when Ebola is a concern.
He also urged religious leaders to direct sick people to hospitals for assessment rather than relying solely on prayer or home care.
Ilesanmi stressed that regular handwashing with soap and water and proper hygiene remained important measures for reducing the risk of infection.
Both experts emphasised the importance of coordinated communication, effective surveillance and public awareness as Nigeria works to contain the outbreak and identify people who may have been exposed to the virus.
Ademide Adebayo
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