World Health Organisation

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has supported the Nasarawa State Government with Integrated Diseases Surveillance Response (IDSR) collection tools for effective surveillance of diseases in the state.

Dr Idong Ebong, Coordinator of WHO in the state, handed over the tools to the Commissioner for Health, Dr Daniel Iya, in Lafia on Wednesday, according to th News Agency of Nigeria, NAN.
Ebong said the essence of the gesture was to support the state government in effectively surveillance, collection and collation of data on diseases prevalent in the state.
“We are here today to present to the state government these IDSR tools to help in data collection, collation and analysis of diseases outbreak the state.
“We thought it necessary to support the state government in this respect,” she said.
She appealed to the health surveillance officers in the 13 local government areas of the state to use the tools efficiently and transfer data collated to the ministry promptly for appropriate action.
“The surveillance officers need to work with time with these tools. As soon as they have done their part, they need to get the data to the ministry on time for analysis and planning purposes,’’ the WHO coordinator said.
Receiving the tools, the commissioner expressed gratitude to WHO for assisting the state government, which according to him should have been handled by the state.
“It is a very important occasion because it helps us as a state on decision making on health issues.
“We need to document every disease occurrence in the state and we can only have the information we need if our surveillance officers are well equipped and doing their work,” Iya said.
He added that efficient utilisation of the tools would give the state the opportunity of early response to outbreak of diseases.
Iya therefore called on all stakeholders, including private health institutions, to prioritise data collation or jeopardise their licences.
“These are the tools needed to actually document incidence or occurrence of diseases.
“There are certain diseases we keep close eye on so we can anticipate challenges that may arise as result of outbreaks. So the tools are very important.
“So it’s important that these tools are utilised by our surveillance officers in various local governments such that when data is collected, they are transmitted to the appropriate quarters so that decisions can be taken to avoid outbreaks.
“Secondly, it is important to have this data coming because it will raise a flag as to the possibility of having an outbreak so that we are prepared to deal with the situation even before it becomes an outbreak,” said the commissioner.
Earlier, Dr Ibrahim Adamu, Director of Public Health, state Ministry of Health, said the contribution from WHO was crucial as disease control can be effected through surveillance system being the only way to keep track of the diseases.
“One of our partners has volunteered to contribute working tools to the surveillance officers to help us be in a position whereby we detect any disease at any time.
“If the surveillance officer doesn’t have working tools, then we cannot keep track of diseases when they occur.
“Its important to provide working tools to the surveillance officers to monitor disease occurrence in the state. We thank WHO for offering these tools to our officers,” Adamu said.