The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has mobilised Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) alumni and media fellows to strengthen Nigeria’s preparedness for Ebola and other public health emergencies.

The mobilisation was discussed at the IPC Alumni Assembly held virtually on Friday under the theme “One Network, Many Actions.”

The initiative, supported by DRASA Health Trust, the Centre for Infection Control and Patient Safety (CICAPS) and the Media Epidemiology, Infodemiology and Social Behaviour Change/Risk Communication Fellowship (MEDIA-EIS), seeks to improve early detection, protect healthcare workers and prevent transmission in health facilities.

The Director-General of the NCDC, Dr Jide Idris, called on trained IPC professionals to apply their expertise to early detection, infection prevention and containment, stressing that facilities must strengthen preparedness before suspected cases arrive.

“We want active containment. We don’t want to be passive at all. We want to go at it with all that we have,” he said.

Mr Idris, represented by the Head of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion at the centre, Dr Tochi Okwor, identified Nigeria’s population density, urban centres and population mobility as factors that could complicate containment if suspected cases were not recognised promptly.

He warned that Ebola symptoms could resemble those of malaria and other common infectious diseases, potentially delaying diagnosis and increasing exposure among healthcare workers and patients.

Mr Idris urged health facilities to strengthen screening and triage, maintain standard precautions, use Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) according to assessed risks and promptly report suspected cases through established channels.

“Hand hygiene and risk-based PPE are non-negotiable,” he said.

He also urged IPC professionals to assess gaps in protective equipment, isolation arrangements, environmental cleaning and referral pathways, and work with facility management to address identified weaknesses.

He said NCDC planned to engage state commissioners for health and state IPC focal persons to encourage greater use of trained professionals during the outbreak and beyond.

He said DIPC graduates were included in the NCDC health workforce database, which could help identify personnel for future engagements and capacity-building activities.

Mr Idris encouraged IPC professionals to inform state authorities about their skills and activities to demonstrate their contributions to health security.

On the Orange Network, which brings together health facilities working towards IPC excellence, he explained that applications must be initiated by facility leadership.

He advised medical directors and chief medical directors of interested facilities to write to the NCDC Director-General to express their interest and obtain guidance on the application process

Also, Managing Director of DRASA Health Trust and moderator of the assembly, Niniola Williams, outlined three priority activities for participating facilities.

Ms Williams said the first activity was refresher training on Ebola and IPC, focusing on early recognition, standard precautions, prevention of occupational exposure and immediate reporting procedures.

“The second was to establish or strengthen screening and triage arrangements and practise their implementation for five consecutive days,” she said.

Ms Williams said the exercise would enable facilities to test procedures, document lessons, identify operational challenges and make necessary improvements.

“The third activity was to assess facility readiness using an approved checklist based on the national IPC scorecard,” she said.

She said the assessment would help IPC focal persons identify gaps in infection prevention, referral procedures, exposure reporting and other areas of Ebola preparedness.

She urged participants to begin with measures that could be implemented using available resources while seeking management support for additional supplies and funding.

“The facility-level activities were scheduled to begin on Oct. 26, with a review meeting planned for the last week of November to assess progress, challenges and achievements,” she said.

She also discussed sharing presentation slides and information, education and communication materials through a common Google Drive, alongside refresher webinars and instructional videos on screening, triage and IPC procedures.

Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos and key figure in developing Nigeria’s IPC diploma programme, Prof. Sade Ogunsola, said the 2014 Ebola outbreak exposed critical gaps in infection prevention, including inadequate facility-level leadership, insufficiently trained professionals and weak systems for protecting healthcare workers.

Ms Ogunsola, who said she had worked in IPC since the 1990s, explained that the outbreak provided an opportunity to establish a structured, competency-based training programme capable of strengthening infection prevention beyond emergencies.

She recalled that following the outbreak, the team secured support from the United States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention to develop the Diploma in Infection Prevention and Control (DIPC) curriculum within 18 months.

She said the programme was designed to equip healthcare professionals with the skills to assess risks, establish and lead IPC programmes, influence clinical practices and prepare facilities for future outbreaks.

According to her, infection prevention must be sustained as a routine responsibility rather than activated only when an outbreak occurs.

“IPC is really about the routine, I would say the boring work we do in healthcare facilities every day, where, like soldiers, you prepare for war in peacetime,” she said.

She urged alumni to continue updating their knowledge, mentoring colleagues and strengthening infection prevention across primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare facilities.

She said the programme’s success should ultimately be measured by its impact on patient safety, healthcare worker protection and facilities’ ability to prevent the transmission of infections.

(NAN)