The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Thursday in Lokoja inaugurated a Public Health Emergency Operations Centre (PHEOC) in Kogi to facilitate rapid response to emergency public health situations in the state.

Inaugurating the centre located within the premises of the state Ministry of Health in Lokoja, Chikwe Ihekweazu, the Director-General of NCDC, said it was built in collaboration with the state government.

According to Mr Ihekweazu, the construction of the centre is borne out of the need to address slow approaches to detection, prevention and responses to infectious diseases and disease outbreaks in the state.

He assured that the NCDC would provide training and capacity building for the health surveillance team in the state to be able to detect and respond to public health emergencies in record time.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the NCDC equipped the centre with an operational vehicle and modern equipment to assist health officials in responding to public health emergencies and disease outbreaks timely.

Saka Haruna, the state Commissioner for Health, commended the NCDC for the gesture.

According to him, the centre will provide daily epidemic intelligence gathering and risk analysis of public health events.

“It will also help in identifying potential threats and enable timely and adequate responses to emergency health situations.

“The platform will also enable multi-partner alignments for support within a common response framework.

“This will ensure need-based deployment of resources among other essential response strategies and prevent duplication of efforts,’’ he said.



The commissioner recalled that Kogi had in recent times faced an outbreak of diseases including Lassa fever, yellow fever and cholera which he said the state had successfully handled in spite of limited resources.

He assured that the centre will be put to good use as Kogi would remain a dependable partner in the fight against disease outbreaks. (NAN)

https://www.premiumtimesng.com/health/health-news/298258-ncdc-inaugurates-public-health-emergency-centre-in-kogi.html

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