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as JEE Report rates FCT high on vaccination
Stories by Stanley Onyekwere
To sustain efforts toward strengthening preparedness and response capabilities for public health emergencies, the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has called for a united front on building a safer, healthier, and more resilient FCT.
Making this point yesterday, Mandate Secretary, Health Services and Environment Secretariat (HS&ES) of the FCTA, Dr. Adedolapo Fasawe, at the dissemination workshop of the FCT Joint External Evaluation (JEE) report, said JEE findings will serve as a roadmap for the strengthening of health security in the FCT.
Fasawe, noted that it is vital that all stakeholders, including government agencies, healthcare providers, academia, civil society, and our international partners, join hands in translating these recommendations into tangible outcomes.
In her remarks read by the HSES Permanent Secretary, Dr. Babagana Adam, the Secretary stressed that the importance of the evaluation cannot be overstated, as it provided a unique opportunity to critically assess our existing capacities, identify critical gaps, and lay down strategic recommendations to enhance ability to prevent, detect, and respond effectively to public health threats in FCT.
She acknowledged the unwavering support and collaboration of FCTA partners—the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC), the World Health Organization (WHO), the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US CDC), Project Hope, and all stakeholders involved in the historic process.
“Your expertise, resources, and dedication have been invaluable in conducting the first-ever external assessment of our health security capacities under the International Health Regulations (IHR, 2005).
“This workshop is thus an essential platform to share these findings transparently, discuss their implications comprehensively, and strategize collaboratively toward meaningful action.
“The JEE findings serve not only as a diagnostic tool but also as a roadmap for the strengthening of health security in the FCT.
“I urge all participants to actively engage, contribute insights, and identify innovative approaches and priority actions that will move our health security agenda forward effectively.
“Our collective resilience depends on our ability to act decisively and collaboratively.
“On behalf of the Health Services and Environment Secretariat of the Federal Capital Territory Administration, I assure you of our continued commitment and leadership in improving our health security frameworks and capacities”, she stated.
Earlier, the Director-General, NCDC, Dr. Jide Idris, noted that dissemination of the report marks a new beginning in the renewed commitments to building a stronger, more resilient health security system for the FCT.
Idris, represented by Dr. Fatima Saleh, Director, Surveillance NCDC, said the FCTA has shown ownership and leadership, vital for a collective health security.
“The JEE is a critical component of the IHR 2005 monitoring and evaluation framework, which provides clear evidence of the strength, the gaps in our public health preparedness and response capabilities.
“It is not an end in itself; but a tool for action, a mirror that reflects where we stand today and a map that guides us where we must go”, he said.
Presenting the JEE Report, an assessment of health security capacities at sub-national level, Senior Officer, International Health Regulation (IHR), Ms Nsikak Inman
revealed that the FCT was rated high on vaccination coverage as part of a state-level programme, as well as vaccine access and delivery.
Inman, who added that FCT equally did well in the surveillance system and reporting network and protocol under surveillance and reporting, opined that the Administration needs to improve on use of electronic tools and surveillance data analysis.
She also disclosed that best practices observed during the assessment include multi-sectoral representation and participation, transparency, commitment, state ownership, available human resource strategy and annual human resource gap analysis.
According to him, other areas of strength include case management capacity for health security related events and Emergency Operations Centres capacities, procedures and plans.
She however identified some gaps that need to be addressed, particularly suboptimal collaboration across relevant sectors and secretariat departments and agencies.
“There are also inadequate policies, strategies, guidelines and plans to improve health security in FCT.
“Inadequate laboratory capacity should also be addressed while budget allocation for epidemic preparedness should include animal and environmental sectors,” she said.
She explained that the Nigerian Centre for NCDC, in its capacity as the IHR National Focal Point, supported state governments in assessing and identifying gaps in the health security core capacities.
She added that working with the FCT Administration, the assessment was conducted from Feb. 19 to 21, 2024, using the adapted evaluation tool for the assessment of subnational level health security capacities.
She equally said that the benchmarks for strengthening subnational health security in Nigeria to validate the self-assessment.
Also, the FCT Epidemiologist, Dr Lawal Ademola, emphasised that the FCT has the capacity to detect, respond, and prevent all public health concerns.
