By Asma’u Ahmad
The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, has called on the 36 state governments to intensify partnership with the Federal Government in order to combat Lassa fever outbreak in the country.
The minister made the appeal at an emergency meeting of the National Council on Health (NCH), organised by the Federal Ministry of Health in Abuja.
He pointed out that the federal government had not got the commensurate co-operation from the states in the fight against the epidemic.
Prof. Isaac Adewole
“The question people often ask is, ‘did we prepare for this outbreak?’ The answer is yes, but somewhere along the line, we did not get the commensurate co-operation from the states.
“This is because we tend to assume that all must happen in Abuja. The answer is no. In fact, much will happen at the state governments’ level and that is why we need a partnership.
“We will also talk more about this when we will be talking about a functional partnership,” the minister said.
Professor Adewole advised each state to have an operation centre to cater for public health challenges.
Adewole also urged state commissioners for health to brief their governors on public health challenges every week.
“We are all in this together and we need to mobilise support towards ending the spate of outbreaks, particularly Lassa fever.”
