Oluchi Chibuzor
The Nigeria Academy of Pharmacy has urged Nigeria to strengthen its preparedness for Ebola and other emerging infectious diseases before the next outbreak, warning that the country must not wait for suspected cases before activating its response systems.
The call was made on Thursday during an Emergency Epidemic Preparedness Webinar organised by the Academy and moderated by its Director of Programmes, Dr. Lolu Ojo.
The webinar, themed ‘Building a Prepared, Coordinated and Resilient Healthcare Workforce’, brought together experts from medicine, pharmacy, nursing, medical laboratory science, physiotherapy and other health professions.
The President of the Academy, Prof. Lere Baale, said epidemic preparedness must be treated as a collective responsibility of the entire health system.
“An outbreak does not recognise professional boundaries. Neither should preparedness,” Baale said.
He stressed that preparedness should begin before the first suspected case, with continuous training in surveillance, case recognition, infection prevention and control, referral pathways and emergency protocols.
“Preparedness is not a certificate that a country earns permanently. It is a capability that must be continuously strengthened, tested and renewed,” he said.
Also, the Chairman of the Academy’s Ebola Task Group, Prof. Fola Tayo, called for continuous testing and improvement of Nigeria’s outbreak response systems.
“Preparedness must be continuous. It must be tested, evaluated and improved regularly. People change, practices evolve and technology advances,” Tayo said.
He challenged health institutions to ask whether frontline workers knew exactly what to do when confronted with a suspected Ebola case.
“Our goal must be to ensure that when an outbreak occurs, healthcare professionals are not learning what to do for the first time. They should already be trained, prepared and able to respond effectively,” he said.
A consultant physician, Dr. Adefolarin Opawoye, warned that Nigeria could no longer depend on healthcare workers sacrificing themselves during outbreaks, as occurred during the 2014 Ebola crisis.
He identified inadequate laboratory capacity and the migration of experienced health professionals as major threats to Nigeria’s epidemic preparedness.
According to him, Ebola cannot be diagnosed solely from clinical symptoms, making laboratory capacity crucial to early detection and containment.
Opawoye also called for the establishment of a pharmacy-based disease surveillance system, noting that pharmacies were among the most accessible points of healthcare for Nigerians.
“Pharmacies are very critical because they are some of the most accessible people that we have. We need to develop a pharmacy-based reporting system,” he said.
Similarly, a physiotherapist, Mrs. Modupe Adesanya, called for a multidisciplinary approach to outbreak preparedness, stressing that even cleaners and support staff in health facilities should receive appropriate infection prevention training.
“Preparedness has to be national and has to be multidisciplinary. We cannot afford to be segregated,” Adesanya said.
She urged the government to commence preparedness training immediately, rather than waiting for Ebola to spread to Nigeria.
“If Nigeria has already heard about Ebola that has no vaccine in Congo, I think the training should begin now. We should not wait again,” she said.
A consultant community pharmacist, Mrs. Folasade Lawal, also emphasised the strategic role of community pharmacists in early detection, public education, infection prevention and access to essential medicines.
She said community pharmacies were often the first point of contact for Nigerians seeking healthcare and urged pharmacists to educate the public on proper hand hygiene and reject misinformation.
“Healthcare emergencies place unusual demands on the healthcare workforce. Frontline workforce engagement is not optional; it is a life-saving infrastructure,” she said.
The experts stressed that lessons from Nigeria’s 2014 Ebola outbreak must translate into stronger surveillance, laboratory systems, infection prevention, public communication and coordinated response.