The launch of this program, named ‘Strengthening and Utilising Response Groups for Emergencies (Surge)’, took place in Damaturu, Yobe State.

Dr. Godwin Ntadom, the Chief Consultant in Epidemiology at the Federal Ministry of Health, unveiled the initiative. Its primary objective is to enhance readiness and coordination at all levels.

Yobe State, which is in the process of recovering from the Boko Haram insurgency, faces the challenges of both human and natural disasters.

In the year 2022 alone, the state suffered the loss of 74 lives, and 30,000 hectares of farmland were submerged by floods.

Despite warnings from the Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NIMET), approximately 35,000 households were displaced from their ancestral homes across the state.

In his speech, Yobe State’s Commissioner for Health, Lawan Gana, expressed his appreciation for the initiative.

He highlighted that despite existing efforts, the state still struggles with insufficient skilled personnel and limited logistics.

This initiative, which has been launched in all six geopolitical zones of the country, aims to enhance the capacity of public health workers to respond promptly and effectively to any emergency situation.

Chollom, while speaking with newsmen on Monday in Jos, said that it was vital for government to strengthen the response with robust and effective disease surveillance systems at both state and federal level.

He said that in a bid to strengthen the response to disease outbreaks, health workers should be trained and retrained on defining timelines and strategies on disease emergency response system.

Chollom lamented that in Nigeria, diseases broke out without any warning signal to safeguard the public and there were no data on such outbreaks to help mitigate against future occurrences.

According to him, poor development in technology on remote disease sensing in the country made the country a prone territory to most emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases.

Chollom said that for response to health emergencies to be prompt and effective, the laboratory component of disease investigation must be fully optimised.

He said that outbreak definition and diagnoses of diseases could only be done with effective laboratory support manned by a professional.

Chollom said it was by doing so that proper definition and causes of disease outbreak would be tackled effectively.

Similarly, Mr. Yakubu Bot, a medical laboratory scientist, said that strengthening response to disease outbreak and emergencies would not only reduce morbidity, disability and mortality but reduce social and economic impacts from such outbreaks.

Bot, who is also the chairman, Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria (AMLSN), Plateau chapter, said that laboratory investigations had become imperative in improving the health status of Nigerians and reducing healthcare cost.

He said that disease outbreak preparedness programmes, health practitioners’ work ethics and regular skill updates were major determinants in disease outbreak preparedness.