As part of effort to fight against the outbreak and spread of Lassa Fever, the Federal government and a Non-Governmental Organisation, Institute of Human Virology Nigeria (IHVN) has partnered with the Ondo state government to open a new diagnosis center in Ondo state.
The IHVN also provided major equipment such as BIOBASE Class III Biosafety Cabinet (Glove Box) to ensure safe handling of infectious samples, Hematology and Chemistry Auto Analyzers, among others.
Speaking during the handing over of the equipment to Ondo State government on Wednesday, the epidemiology and surveillance manager of IHVN, Saiki Musa, 6explained that the act was in an effort to control the outbreak and spread of Lassa Fever.
Musa said the institute visited Ondo State in 2023 and noticed that there is an urgent need to establish another health laboratory to complement the effort of Federal Medical Center (FMC) Owo.
He said the establishment of the new laboratory and the purchase of equipment was funded by the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention(US-CDC).
Musa said “As an institution, we have been in Ondo State supporting the state in ways to improve the effort in controlling Lassa fever.
“In 2023 we were here to establish some gaps in the control of Lassa fever and that included among others the fact that there is a need to establish another health laboratory to complement the effort in FMC Owo.
“To get this lab to the state of functionality, there is a need for provisions of some equipment to complement the already existing ones.
” IHVN through the funding from United States Center for Disease Control and Prevent (CDC) took on this effort to support the facility with some equipment that will complement what already existed.
“What we are here to do is to effectively hand over some of those equipment to the state so we can go through the test of ownership and sustainability of the use of this equipment.”
Also speaking, the Director General of Nigeria Center for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC), Dr Jide Idris, noted that the newly established laboratory is one of the lab the agency is looking forward to optimize.
The DG who was represented by the National Incident Manager for Lassa Fever Emergency Operation Center, Dr. Yetunde Abioye, said more effort will be put in place to ensure adequate functionality of the lab.
“This lab here is now one of the labs that we are looking forward to optimizing in the near future pending some notifications that have already been made.
“We will still do more in preparation to optimize the lab and make it functional to be able to test for lassa fever especially in focus at the moment,” He said.
Speaking, the Permanent Secretary of Ondo State Ministry of Health, Adeniran Ikuomola, explained that the new laboratory and equipment will enabled the state detect cases of Lassa fever on time and in turn reduces the rate of fatality.
According to him, the state has recorded over 400 suspected cases of Lassa Fever and 100 confirmed cases.
Ikuomola however explained that the state government is working round the clock to ensure the functionality of the new laboratory and to collaborate with other agencies to reduced the rate of Lassa Fever fatality in the state.
He said ” We have inspected the equipment donated to us by the Federal Ministry of Health, through CDC, and then facilitated by IHVN.
“With this, we expect that we should be able to control Lassa reasonably and have significant improvement in case management as well as in case detection.
“As of last week, we had over 400 suspected cases of Lassa fever, and above 100 confirmed cases.
” For now, we’ve recorded some deaths. However, the state government is working around the clock to ensure that we reduce the fatality from Lassa fever.”
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