By Abujah Racheal

The Director General, West African Health Organization (WAHO), Prof Stanley Okolo, has disclosed that the World Bank-funded REDISSE programme had utilized  over $583,million allocated for WAHO and ECOWAS countries  to  fund the implementation of their 2016 -2020 strategic plan.

REDISSE stands for Regional Disease Surveillance Systems Enhancement (REDISSE), an  programme interdependent Series of Projects designed to strengthen national, regional and cross-sectoral capacity for integrated disease surveillance and response in West Africa.

Okolo made the disclosure  in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday, in Abuja,  on the sidelines of the 5th Regional Steering Committee meeting of the REDISSE.

”The REDISSE Program supports 11 countries in West Africa: Guinea, Senegal, Sierra Leone (REDISSE Phase 1); Togo, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Nigeria (REDISSE Phase 2); and Benin, Niger, Mauritania, Mali (REDISSE Phase 3).

“REDISSE Phase 4 expanded the program to five countries in Central Africa, including Angola, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)”, he said.

He disclosed that WAHO served as a regional coordination and implementation agency and the Program Secretariat for the countries of West Africa and Mauritania.

Okolo added that the project consisted of five components: C1: Surveillance and Health Information; C2: Laboratory Capacity Building; C3: Emergency Preparedness and Response; C4: Human Resources Management for Effective Disease Surveillance and Epidemic Preparedness; and C5: Institutional Capacity Building, Project Management, Coordination and Advocacy.

 “The Project Development Objective is to strengthen national and regional cross-sectoral capacities for collaborative disease surveillance and epidemic preparedness in West Africa, addressing weaknesses in human and animal health systems that hinder disease surveillance and effective disease response

”In the event of an emergency, the project would provide an effective immediate response to the said emergency,” he explained.

 The WAHO DG noted that REDISSE Project had made significant progress in achieving its objectives in West Arica, through improvement of the heath information system and creation of a regional platform for data collection.

In addition, he added, it had recorded significant improvement in the laboratory capacity of the West Africa region, by the establishment of the network of regional laboratories and the development of regional guidelines for laboratory samples transportation.

“WAHO and countries have also supported capacity building of human resources for health in disease epidemiology, through frontline, intermediate and advanced level FELTP training.

“The development of the ECOWAS regional emergency preparedness and response plan and the establishment of both the Regional Rapid Response Teams and National Rapid Response Teams have contributed to the significant capacity improvement for emergency preparedness, which has been evident in the support provided to the region during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“These actions have been instrumental in the deployment of the Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program (FELTP), trainees, decentralization of laboratory capacity and unified regional platform for accessing COVID-19 data,” he explained.

The 5th Regional Steering Committee meeting was convened to assess the implementation of the REDISSE project, evaluate progress achieved towards meeting project objectives, and make recommendations for enhancing the implementation and achievement  of the objectives.

The implementation of the recommendations of the last Regional Steering Committee meeting held in Lome in November 2, 2019 would also be assessed. 

Other issues of the agenda would be the consideration of the report of the Technical Committee meeting on the level of implementation of the 2020 AWPBs and PPs of countries, its analysis and validation by implementing partners, WHO, OIE, RAHC, CCISD, FMx, University of Ghana, University of Ouagadougou 1 and WAHO,  all with a view to proffer recommendations to improve the implementation of the project. 

By Abujah Racheal

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has recorded 346 new cases of Coronavirus (COVID-19), taking the total number of infected people in Nigeria to 159,252.

The NCDC gave the figures on its official Twitter handle on Tuesday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) also reports that six people died from COVID-19 related ailments in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll to 1,988 and the number of patients who have recovered from the disease put at 139,056.

The NCDC stated that the 346 new infections were recorded in 17 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in the last 24 hours.

The NCDC stated that Lagos recorded the highest number of new cases with 86 infections on Tuesday.

Bauchi followed closely with 64 cases and Kaduna and Kwara in third position reported 26 new cases each, while the FCT confirmed 24 infections, Rivers reported 23 and Plateau had 22 cases of the virus.

Ogun reported 16, Ebonyi-14, Bayelsa-12, Cross River-10, Edo-eight, Akwa Ibom-five, Ekiti-three, Gombe-two, Kano-two, Osun-two and Delta-one.

The NCDC said that 554 people have been successfully treated and have been discharged from different isolation centres in the last 24 hours.

According to the NCDC, today’s discharges include 170 community recoveries in Lagos State and 83 in Kwara managed in line with guidelines.

The agency said that the country’s COVID-19 active cases stood at 18,208 in the last 24 hours.

The NCDC said that a multi-sectoral national emergency operations centre (EOC), activated at Level 3, had continued to coordinate the national response activities in the country.

NAN recalls that the country has tested 1,601,396  people for the virus since the pandemic outbreak in the country last year.

By Ummul Idris

Prof. Saad Ahmed, the Medical Director, Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Abuja has advised Nigerians on early eyes check to know their status about glaucoma.

Ahmed said this at a seminar, awareness campaign and free eye test for residents of Abuja at the FMC, Jabi on Monday to mark the World Glaucoma Week.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that FMC is organising a one week free screening and treatment for people with glaucoma.

The medical director explained that an individual did not have a way to notice glaucoma as it was a silent killer of vision that did not give prior notice.

He said that most feelings about glaucoma were usually accidental, adding that there was no cure for glaucoma but it could be controlled.

“For those who have been diagnosed with glaucoma, you have to be compliant with your medication and the directive of your Optomologist.

“There is no cure but early diagnosis is the way to go, it is a group of eyes disease with certain risk factors like positive family history, age among others.

“Glaucoma can run through the family like other diseases, if you do not know you have glaucoma, you can go for screening and diagnosis,” he said.

Ahmed, however, said that some people rather than check their status would say, “it is not my portion’’, adding that such people could not be forced.

Dr Eziechila Joseph, an Optalmologist and Head of Clinical Services, FMC, Jabi, said that glaucoma remained one of the major causes of irreversible blindness, adding that there was need to go for diagnosis.

He said that FMC was creating awareness so that more people could be tested and take glaucoma important because it comes asymptomatic.

He urged Abuja residents to get their eyes tested at FMC as a way of celebrating the World Glaucoma Day, adding that it is necessary for individuals to constantly check their eyes.