Following inadequacies in the management of emergencies, the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), with the support of the World Health Organisation (WHO), will within a two-year timeline develop a robust roadmap of response activities in health emergencies in the territory.
In particular, the FCTA working together with WHO will develop a roadmap that would bring up responsible officers and establish a monitoring and evaluation framework for emergency response activities to be implemented within the timeframe of two years.
Making this disclosure Dr Kumshida Balami, the Coordinator for the Africa Volunteer for Sustaining Strengthening and Utilising Response Groups for Emergencies (SURGE) in Nigeria, said WHO is giving its technical support and contributions in the areas of supporting the FCT with a digital learning platform for health emergency coordination.
Balami, who is of WHO Nigeria Country Office, who spoke during a disease surveillance refresher training organised as part of the scoping mission programme, in Abuja, added that WHO will train a minimum of 80 responders in the FCT, who are ready and prepared to respond to health emergencies within 24-48 hours when they occur.
She said, in the course of the week, they are basically conducting a scoping mission in the FCT, to be able to assess the status of the FCT capacity in response to health emergencies.
She noted that some of the challenges identified are the limited human resources in emergency response, which is what most people have observed, adding that there is a lack of agility in response teams, as a lot of responders are fatigued or are not really motivated to their level of expectation.
“We will be engaging stakeholders in health emergencies response in FCT, to be able to understand what is the capacity of FCT to respond in the event of an emergency. We will together identify the gaps for emergency response, develop the roadmap to be able to implement activities that will close the identified critical gaps.
“During the emergency response, we have observed limited or short supply in terms of consumables needed to be able to attend to the high-risk groups or those affected. Together with the FCTA, we would develop a roadmap to be able to implement this activity.
“Findings from this workshop will help us together with the government to develop a roadmap of activities with timeline and responsible officers as well as develop a monitoring and evaluation framework for those activities to be implemented within the timeframe of two years”, she stressed.
Similarly, Director, Port Health Services, Federal Ministry of Health, Dr Nse Akpan, said the programme of the scoping mission is to ensure that we have a robust team that tackles all public health emergencies.
Akpan, who represented the National SURGE Coordinator and Focal Point, Dr Morenike Alex-Okoh, said: “Our aim is to use the workshop to strengthen the capacity and build a robust workforce that would immediately respond to the outbreak of any disease in the country.
“In as much as we have some infectious diseases and flooding, we really need to strengthen the capacity of our workforce, that can respond to any public health threat at any point in time.”
Also speaking, the Acting Secretary, FCT Health And Human Services Secretariat, Mr Malan Noel Haruna, noted that the essence of the scoping programme is to expand the ability of the FCTA to respond to emergencies, as over the years, there have been inadequacies, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, which stakeholders are learning from that so that they will be able to respond in a more coordinated manner to emergencies of healthcare nature.
Haruna explained that the FCT Public Health Department through the Federal Ministry of Health, in partnership with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and other partners are implementing the Scoping programme in FCT and the country at large.
He reiterated that the FCTA management headed by the Permanent Secretary, Olusade Adesola, has been very supportive of the cause of the healthcare delivery in the FCT.
“Today’s engagement will afford us the opportunity to take a holistic view of our activities and challenges during outbreaks and humanitarian crises to help map out a way forward together,” he added.
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