Virologist wants upgrade of state epidemiological units to State Centers for Disease Control

Virologist wants upgrade of state epidemiological units to State Centers for Disease Control

Advocates

By Blessing Odega

Jos, March 15, 2020 (NAN) A virologist and a medical laboratory scientist, Dr Solomon Chollom, has called for the upgrading of State Epidemiological Units to State Centers for Disease Control(SCDC).

Chollom made the call in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Jos.

He said upgrading the state epidemiological units would scale up their activities by expanding their mandates in the era of relentless emerging and re-emerging disease outbreaks.

He said when upgraded as centres, the facilities should work with the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) which he observed, worked proactively.

“The NCDC is doing exceptionally well in stemming relentless disease outbreaks and going forward, it has to be supported strategically from the base, that is at the state level.

“This is even more so as we wake up daily to increased threats of emerging epidemics and pandemics,” the virologist said.

According to him, establishing SCDC across the 36 states will make the NCDC more robust in terms of rapid response and visibility at the grassroots.

He said this was because their activities would be more elaborate and that every metre of the country would be covered in terms of disease surveillance, outbreak investigation and health awareness campaigns.

Chollom also said that the upgrade of the state epidemiological units to SCDC would check the bureaucratic bottle necks such units usually encountered while discharging their functions.

He further said that the  SCDC would be more indigenous in creating health awareness and campaigns making it easier for those in the rural areas to have better understanding of campaigns on health issues.

Chollom said,the SCDC would be vigilant and ready to forestall certain disease outbreaks that were peculiar to the states and in turn reduce the mortality rates associated with such outbreaks.(NAN)

UBO/AMY

Edited by Abdullahi Yusuf