The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has established the Integrated Disease Testing and Surveillance Project at the Central Public Health Laboratory (CPHL) in Lagos.
Speaking at the launching yesterday in Lagos, the Director-General, NCDC, Dr Jide Idris described the establishment as a prominent force in combating infectious diseases of public health importance in Nigeria.
He said the establishment would enable informed decision-making for fortified patient care and overall development of the healthcare value chain.
Idris pointed out that the Commission’s mission is to protect Nigerians’ health using a one-health approach.
He noted identifying the need for capacity building in order to advance diagnostic services.
“The establishment of the integrated laboratory diagnosis facility will be a game-changer in the fight against infectious diseases of public health importance in Nigeria, by providing accurate, early and comprehensive diagnosis.
“It will enable informative decision-making for enhanced patient care, proactive disease surveillance and outbreak management, optimize antimicrobial stewardship and reduced antimicrobial resistance, inform research and development for new diagnostic tests and treatments, improved patient safety and reduce healthcare costs, enhanced global health security through rapid detection and response, among others.
“As you may know, the NCDC’s mission is to protect the health of Nigerians through evidence-based prevention, integrated disease surveillance, and response activities, using a one-health approach, guided by research, and led by a skilled workforce.
“In response to diagnosis-related challenges for the country’s prioritised infectious diseases, we have identified the need to develop capacity for advanced diagnostic services and laboratory-based surveillance capacity for Malaria, Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), Mycotic Diseases, and similar diseases of public health importance,” he said.
He added that the main goal of this timely intervention through the NCDC/CDCF/TECRO project was to further strengthen NCDC’s capacity.
“This partnership with some of the disease programs of the FMOH; is to provide strategic leadership and coordinate national public health response strategies that support integrated disease surveillance, detection, characterization, prevention, and mitigation of priority diseases of global health significance.”
Idris said that malaria, mycotic infections, and NTDs’ have, for far too long, imposed a significant burden on the communities, disproportionately impacting the most vulnerable and hindering development.
He said that the establishment of the integrated disease laboratory signifies a paradigm shift and will add critical values through enhanced diagnostic capacity, adding that the CPHL Lagos will now be equipped with cutting-edge testing platforms, enabling them to deliver faster, more precise diagnoses of malaria and a broader spectrum of NTDs.
The DG, therefore, thanked the Taiwanese government (TECRO) through their strategic partners the US-CDC, CDC Nigeria, CDC Foundation, and APIN for the technical and financial resources.
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