In a significant step towards enhancing regional public health, officials from Nigeria and Niger Republic convened in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria for a critical three-day cross-border meeting aimed at improving disease surveillance and outbreak intervention strategies. Organized by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Regional Centre for Surveillance & Disease Control (RCSDC) , the event highlights the necessity of cross-border cooperation in managing public health threats. Declaring the three-day meeting open, the Minister of Health, Professor Ali Pate, noted that with a population of over 230 million people, Nigeria cannot fight infectious disease outbreak that transcend national borders alone, particularly given the spill-over of huge populations from neighbouring countries.
The Minister, who was represented by the Director, Port Health Services in the Ministry of Health, Dr. Akpan Nseobong, described the cross-border surveillance meeting as very important in the considering that since Nigeria and Niger Republic share borders, anything that happens to any of the two countries affects the other. While commending the West African Health Organisation (WAHO) and the ECOWAS Regional Centre for Surveillance and Disease Control (RCSDC) and partners like the World Health Organisation (WHO), United States Centre for Disease Control (CDC), UNICEF and USAID for their support, the minister called for more collaboration with Nigeria to tackle the growing public heal.
