Linus Awute, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Health
The proposed African Centre for Disease Control, (ACDC) must be designed as a veritable institution to strengthen and enhance health systems in the African continent and Nigeria is ready to support the initiative, Linus Awute, Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Health said on Sunday at the Meeting of African Ministers of Health, on the Establishment of the African CDC, holding in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.
The Permanent Secretary further maintained that the ACDC, being envisaged as a health security tool for Africa, must be owned by the member states with support from the African Union (AU), the World Health Organization (WHO) and other development partners.
Regional centres for disease control or designated institutions selected by the various regional organisations, according to Awute, should work collaboratively and effectively with the continental centre for disease control when established.
He pointed out that regions in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have taken the initiative to set the pace by establishing its Regional Centre for Disease Control, recognizing that the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control should serve as the ECOWAS Regional CDC, in recognition of Nigeria’s role in the fight against the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).
The Permanent Secretary assured that Nigeria was ready to share its experiences in establishing its CDC and its role in the establishment of the ECOWAS Regional CDC.
The call for an African Centre for Disease Control was formally advanced when Member States of the African Union (AU) held a Special Summit on HIV, TB and Malaria in Abuja in July 2013.
At this Summit, member states affirmed the need for an African Centre for Disease Control (ACDC).
Subsequently, the decision of the African Union: Assembly/AU/Dec.499 (XXII) adopted at the 22nd Ordinary Session of the Assembly, held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in …Read More
Source:: PM Newspaper
