The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has announced plans to introduce wastewater and environmental surveillance to track SARS-CoV-2, antimicrobial resistance, Mpox, and typhoid.
The move comes in response to the recent declaration by the World Health Organization (WHO) that COVID-19 is no longer a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).
NCDC Director General, Dr Ifedayo Adetifa, explained that the initiative was aligned with the WHO’s recently declared Preparedness and Resilience for Emerging Threats (PRET) initiative.
He also noted that Nigeria had already de-escalated its COVID-19 response since 2022, focusing on encouraging COVID-19 vaccination and recommended discretionary use of face masks and other public health safety measures according to personal risk assessments.
The NCDC will continue to encourage routine COVID-19 testing along with other infectious diseases as part of clinical care, for pandemic flu preparedness, as part of bi-directional testing during investigations for HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and in high-risk populations.
The Director General also stated that the NCDC was working on consolidating COVID-19 pandemic laboratory investments into a cohesive tiered national network of public health laboratories
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