The Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) has advocated for One- Health platform to curb incidences of outbreaks of infectious diseases in Bauchi state.
Dr Biodun Ogunniyi, Head of Sub-national Advocacy and Health Promotion NCDC, stated this at a one day symposium held in Bauchi.
The symposium was a maiden celebration of One Health International day.
It was organised by Bauchi State Ministries of Health, Agriculture, Environment and Department for Wildlife in Bauchi state and supported by Breakthrough Action- Nigeria(BA-N).
Ogunniyi said that, operating One Health platform was to bring succor to issues around Human, Animal and Environmental health.
He said that coordination and information sharing among stakeholders in public health would mitigate the spread of diseases.
Ogunniyi disclosed that Nigeria developed a One health National Strategic Plan with the view to make the country a healthy nation.
“States should domesticate the platform and plan with enforceable legislation provision,Policies, dedicated budget line with timely releases for One-Health platform.
“To achieve Global health security, Coordination, Collaborations and communication must be improved among sectors.”
“Lessons learnt from COVID 19 pandemic should be employed to champion commitments in fighting lassa fever and other diseases,” he said.
Ogunniyi said that the plan was jointly developed by the Federal Ministries of Health, Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), and Environment as well as their agencies to be implemented over a five-year period from 2018 – 2023.
“The health of humans and animals are interlinked with the environment; Majority of infectious diseases that affect human health are zoonotic.
“Nigeria continues to experience annual outbreaks of zoonotic diseases including Lassa fever, monkeypox and yellow fever,therefore the need for have an interface among the stakeholders cannot be over emphasized,” he said.
Earlier, the Commissioner for Health bauchi state,Dr Sabiu Gwallabe said the activity was an opener on the strategies to adopt in the fight against diseases.
He explained that self protection and adherence to health guides would contribute to safeguarding the public.Gwallabe appreciated the organisers for bringing stakeholders in public health to brainstorm on a common course.
In his contribution, Mr Usman Mohammed, BA-N state project Coordinator, said that the symposium focused on lassa fever being the prime time for the seasonal disease.
He said that the activity was aimed to remind stakeholders on preparedness,control and response on the disease using One Health platform.
The theme for the annual event was tagged ‘Connecting Human, Animals and Environment Health to improve Lassa Fever preparedness and Control’.
