[Mhiz Rebecca]

Roughly one year after the 2016 outbreak of Lassa
fever, the Federal Government has confirmed the
presence of the infectious disease in seven states.
Affected states include Plateau, Nasarawa, Ogun,
Ondo, Rivers, Taraba, and Edo. The National Centre
for Disease Control (NCDC) has confirmed 19 cases of
the fever in seven states and a total of six deaths so
far. This year’s outbreak of the fever may spread to
more states, if proper action is not taken immediately
to prevent an epidemic.
Between mid-May 2015 and August 2016, 289 citizens
were infected by Lassa fever, which caused the death
of 154 patients. This huge loss of lives pushed the
NCDC to create a Lassa Fever Eradication Committee
under the leadership of a former WHO virologist, Prof.
Oyewale Tomori, to provide clues on how to prevent
future outbreak of the disease. The committee had
made recommendations to the government well
ahead of this year’s dry season. What could have
prevented full implementation of the committee’s
recommendations?
The acknowledgment by the chairman of the
committee that Lassa fever is not seasonal but
perennial in the country is alarming: “If you are not
hearing of new cases, it is not that the disease is not
occurring, but because our disease surveillance is not
up to par. We deceive ourselves that it’s a seasonal
disease, but the fact remains that it occurs
throughout the year. At least, three people are
diagnosed of Lassa daily somewhere in the country.”
It is worrisome that the country still plays host to a
disease that has been around for decades and whose
prevention methods had been identified by the World
Health Organisation. It is also a matter of grave
concern that at a time that the country is about to
overcome the danger of malaria, Lassa fever, another
preventable disease, is fast becoming a mass killer.
We believe that citizens should have heard many
reassuring words about eradication of Lassa fever
long enough. Time is ripe for government at all levels,
especially a Federal Government that came to power
on the promise to improve health care, to give Lassa
fever the attention it deserves. There are both short-
term and long-term interventions that call for urgent
attention.
On the short-term side, the current spreading of the
fever has to be arrested through provision of efficient
surveillance units in each state and the FCT. There is
need for deployment of doctors to states with special
needs in the fashion of Médecins Sans Frontières
(Doctors Without Frontiers). It is shameful that
citizens are dying and that more may die of infections
caused by rats in the 21st century.
On the long-term side, the country needs to invest in
research and production of Lassa fever vaccine solely
or in collaboration with other countries that are
already working in this area. The federal and state
governments need to implement policies to guard
against the disease. Since this disease is preventable
through proper personal and community hygiene,
government must pay more than lip service to
promotion of hygiene through health education and
infrastructural support to citizens in economically
depressed communities that are conducive to
breeding of rats. Proper hygiene is difficult to achieve,
particularly in urban communities that lack access to
water and electricity.
The Minister of Health had the right words about this
year’s outbreak of Lassa fever:”I call it an
embarrassment because as a nation we cannot
witness Lassa fever every year; it is rather abnormal
for a nation that has resources like we do to be
witnessing such epidemic… We have lived in a state of
denial of the disease, we handle it with characteristic
laxity, laissez-faire, negligence, sloppiness, slackness,
disregard, triviality and freewheeling abandon.” The
challenge is for the government to back the good
words of the minister up with right actions, in the
country’s interest.