Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari, has enjoined the National Assembly to quickly pass into law the bill for the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control. He made this call while presenting the budget for 2018 before the joint session of the National Assembly.
According to the president, passing the bill into law will enable the government to consolidate on the successes recorded to date. He spoke on the outbreaks the country has recorded so far this year.
“During 2017, the country had a number of disease outbreaks such as Meningitis, Yellow Fever, Monkey Pox and Lassa Fever,” Buhari said. He commended the Federal and State Ministries of Health for their selfless service and timely responses to contain these outbreaks. He also thanked Nigeria’s partners specifically the World Health Organisation, the Global Fund and UNICEF, for their continued support.
“This collaboration was a key factor in the low mortality rates experienced,” President Buhari said. To further improve Nigeria’s response to outbreaks, he announced that the government is working to upgrade the country’s Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response System. “This will further enhance the efficiency of our diagnostic and clinical management processes,” President Buhari said.
