By Asma’u Ahmad
The Lagos State Government in collaboration with EpidAlert has announced plans to launch AlertClinic to tackle Malaria, Lassa fever, Diarrheal Diseases and Polio. Founder of AlertClinic and EpidAlert Initiative, Dr Lawal Bakare, in a statement said stakeholders in collaboration with state government agencies would use technology to tackle the challenges.
Dr Bakare described AlertClinic as a communication and notification system designed with algorithms around information flow and the persuasion of critical behaviours and choices. According to him, these four diseases stand as major threats to the disease control systems of the state Ministry of Health, the Primary Healthcare Board and entire people living in the state.
“AlertClinic will provide a two-way notification support to communities and households, and more importantly, the public health institution in Lagos where the ministry of health leads at the peak and the Disease Notification Officers of the Local Government Areas at the grassroots.
“The promise of AlertClinic is that the burden of Malaria, Lassa fever and Cholera, and other diarrheal diseases, will drop in target communities. Notification will rise for the ‘notifiable’ diseases and the public health response time will drop when threats are identified; leaving communities healthier and more resilient,” he said.
Dr Bakare added that AlertClinic would be experienced online and offline in Lagos Mainland Local Government Area after the launch of the initiative on Aug 31. He said that Lagos Mainland was selected for the pilot phase as it presented the ecosystem for early uptake of technology innovations as well an environment that will benefit from it.
Bakare said: “Lagos Mainland is the home of Nigeria’s technology hub in Yaba, higher institutions with thousands of students like the University of Lagos and Yaba College of Technology as well as a large youth population, communities such as Makoko, Ebute Metta.
“Also, we have military cantonments and police barracks, health and research institutions such as Nigeria Institute of Medical Research, the NCDC’s Central Public Health Laboratory and most importantly the Lagos State Primary Healthcare Board and Infectious Disease Hospital.
”It is this immediate environment the Lagos State Government and EpidAlert believe will serve as epicenter of AlertClinic implementation. It is from here we will extend our reach across Lagos State and other parts of the country and possibly beyond.”
