Steve Dada, Gboyega Akinsanm and Onyebuchi Ezigbo
6 November 2009
Lagos/Abuja — Following the confirmation of the first case of Swine Flu (HINI) in Nigeria in which a nine-year-old female student in Lagos was said to have tested positive on Wednesday, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) yesterday said it had commenced talks with key stakeholders in the health sector on the implementation of mitigation measures against possible spread of the epidemic in the country.
The stakeholders include Federal Ministry of Health, World Health Organisation (WHO), Centre for Disease Control (CDC) and the Nigerian Red Cross Society.
The mobilisation is coming on a day the Lagos state government said it was collaborating with the Federal Government to set up a surveillance team to patrol all the international borders in the state as one of the measures to address the spread of the disease. It also assured residents of the state not to panic over the newly reported outbreak of the disease, saying it has enough Tamiflu, an antiviral drug used to restrict the severity of the disease and spread, to contain the spread of the virus.
Also yesterday, Lagos state governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), said about 101 residents of the state have been tested positive for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) out of the 5,443 people that were screened for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) in 31 local government areas and local council development areas (LCDAs).
Fashola ,who was represented by the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Opeyemi Bamidele , made this disclosure during the on-going mini medical missions held in Ejigbo local council development area, Oshodi Local Government and Isolo local council development area.
On the surveillance team, Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, and his counterpart on Information and Strategy, Bamidele, said at a media briefing at the State Secretariat in Alausa, Ikeja , that the surveillance team will operate at three distinct locations which include Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Seme and Idiroko borders with Republic of Benin.
Bamidele, who added that the state government "has intensified surveillance activities in all the local government areas in the state," stated: "To this effect, the state government in collaboration with the Federal Government has set up a joint committee on border patrol as
well as airports in the state." He noted that the female patient who had fever, sore throat, congestion and nausea was treated on out- patient basis which lasted for five days and all tests carried on all people that had close contacts with the patient were negative.
While allaying any fear on the possible spread of the virus, Idris urged residents to report any suspected case to the nearest health centre or the following hotline numbers,08033329327, 08023228573'08023044194 0r call the state emergency number 767.
Meanwhile, a statement signed by NEMA's Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Segun said NEMA has held talks with the CDC, WHO UNICEF, the Federal Ministry of Health and Nigerian Red Cross Society on the matter, stressing that there was no need for panic.
According to the statement, the Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) AVM Mohammed Audu-Bida (rtd) has sued for calm on the swine flu incident, saying relevant agencies had been put on alert to prevent any spread of the disease.
Imohiosen said NEMA had made contacts with the Federal Ministry of Health and WHO to provide vaccines in preparedness for the pandemic in the case of any eventuality.
He also said among other things that the Nigerian Immigration Services, the Ports Authority and other related and line agencies have been asked to be on the lookout at their duty post to ensure that no carrier is allowed into the country without proper treatment and or quarantine.
"NEMA has equally alerted all the Zonal Coordinators in the states to liaise with the Ministries of Health in their respective zones to collaborate on how to concertedly work together to prepare, respond and mitigate and or control the spread of the flu", he said.
WHO and CDC had suggested various methods to keep healthy and to prevent the Swine Flu pandemic such as: "practicing good health habits including getting adequate sleep; eating properly and keeping physically active."
It also advised that people should avoid close contacts with one another as much as possible; cover your nose and mouth, when you cough or sneeze, ensure you properly wash your hands and avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth to reduce the amount of germ exposure.
Other remedies include, washing your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze, also, alcohol-based hands cleaners are effective" in any case of the flu.
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