jessica.onyegbula

News Agency Of Nigeria

<h1>Nigeria Christian Pilgrims Commission (NCPC) has called on Christians to pray against various difficulties facing the nation.</h1>

The Executive Secretary, NCPC, Rev Tor Uja, gave the charge during a courtesy visit by Christian Leaders Forum of Nigeria (CLFN) to the Commission on Thursday in Abuja.

Uja said that Christians must provide a positive direction by faith because God is taking Nigeria to a greater glory.

”We have no other country but Nigeria.

“So, we must put in our best in building and developing this great nation.

“We must pray and stand together until we get the change we are praying for.

”We must, as Christians, advocate for what is right.

“The time we are in doesn’t call for silence from the church; this is a time for the church to lend its voice in moving the country forward.

”Nigeria is going through difficulty now.

“Nigeria is surrounded by all kinds of challenges now, no doubt we are living in one of the most difficult times, but it will pass, Nigeria will surmount these challenges.

”Only the word of God has the power and effect to change and shape lives.

“We must remove denominational differences and be united by the word of God; it is time to prove your Christianity,” he said.

Uja also said that pilgrimage was one of the key ways to move the country forward.

According to him, when Nigerians go for pilgrimage they learn new things aside praying, they move round to see new developments that could be brought home.

”We also screen to know those who want to go for pilgrimage and those who want to abscond.

“Nigeria is a great nation and if you run to other countries, you will go there and become a slave.

”I am proud of what we have achieved already and what we will achieve in future, we are a more developed community than other developing countries,” he said.

Uja, however, noted that the Commission was building a pilgrims’ heritage house with about 1500 seating capacity.

He said the heritage house would be where all churches would be free to do their programmes and a hotel where Christians could relax for little amount of money.

Anglican Bishop, Nathan Inyom, who led the CLFN, stressed on the need for Nigeria to stand together in unity and fight all the challenges facing it.

NCPC  urges Christians to pray for Nigeria (TheSun)

Uja says Christians must provide a positive direction by faith because God is taking Nigeria to a greater glory

NCPC  urges Christians to pray for Nigeria

Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, the Chief Executive Officer, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), disclosed this at a news conference in Abuja.

Ihekeazu said that the country had witnessed a reduction in the number of people who have died from the disease compared to 2018.

He revealed that the NCDC and partners had continued to sustain response activities in states across the country, despite progress made so far.

“An outbreak of Lassa fever was declared in Nigeria on Jan. 21, 2019. Since then, 420 confirmed cases and 93 deaths have been reported in 21 states.

“The national response is being coordinated by the national, multi-sectoral, multi-partner Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) led by the NCDC.

“In addition, the centre has supported Ebonyi, Edo, Ondo, Plateau and Kebbi States in activating sub-national level EOCs for coordination,’’ the chief executive officer said.

Ihekeazu said that following the large Lassa fever outbreak in 2018, the NCDC together with partners instituted five key measures to ensure improved preparedness in 2019.

NCDC boss listed some of the measures as training of over 1,000 healthcare workers on Lassa fever management, diagnosis and surveillance, together with the Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital.

He said that prepositioning of treatment and diagnostic supplies to the 21 states that recorded cases in 2018, treatment centres and laboratories.

Ihekeazu added that publication of Lassa fever messages on three major newspapers, weekly radio shows on Radio Nigeria and intensive community engagement were part of the improved preparedness.

“Other measures to improve preparedness are high-level advocacy visits to state governments, encouraging them to do more to prevent and respond to cases of Lassa fever.

“Also, we developed new case management guidelines, initiated a Lassa fever Research Consortium and hosted an International Conference on Lassa fever to share knowledge,’’ he added.

Ihekeazu stressed that the NCDC also supported full availability of drugs, personal protective equipment, laboratory reagents and other supplies required for case management and diagnosis of Lassa fever.

According to the NCDC boss, this year, there has been no single stock-out reported in any state.

“In January 2019, NCDC hosted the first Lassa fever International Conference. This brought together the largest gathering of researchers and professionals to discuss progress on Lassa fever.

“Importantly, Nigeria introduced her national Lassa fever research plan and has been recognised as one of the leading stakeholders in global Lassa fever research.

“Over the last six months, progress has been made in this area especially in discussions around Lassa fever vaccines. In the next one year, Nigeria is expected to be part of clinical trials towards the development of Lassa fever vaccines,’’ he said.

The NCDC boss noted that in 2018, genetic sequencing carried out showed that the virus circulating originated from the pool of lineages that have been in Nigeria since the first discovery.

He said that this year, early sequencing result showed similar findings.

“The preliminary results of 42 Lassa fever virus sequences indicate that rodent to human transmission, as observed in 2018, is still the dominant route of transmission.

“Therefore, there is a strong need to improve prevention measures especially around environmental sanitation.

“The progress recorded in the response to the 2019 Lassa fever outbreak including an early decline in the number of new cases and reduced case fatality have been attributed to various factors.

“This includes the early deployment of One-Health national RRTs, improvement of functions in Lassa fever treatment centres, revision of case management guidelines, enforcement of environmental sanitation in some states.

“Introduction of the Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) ring strategy, targeted intensified risk communications activities, high level advocacy visits, operational research into response activities, amongst others,’’ Ihekeazu said.

He, however, stressed the need for Nigerians to continue to practice preventive measures to avoid infection.

He noted that prevention of Lassa fever relied on promoting good community hygiene to discourage rodents from entering homes.

“Other effective measures include storing grains and other foodstuff in rodent-proof containers, proper disposal of garbage far from the home, maintaining clean households and frequent hand hygiene.

“All food should be well prepared, and family members should always be careful to avoid contact with blood and body fluids while caring for sick persons.

“Healthcare workers are urged to maintain a high index of suspicion for Lassa fever when handling patients, irrespective of their health status.

“Lassa fever should be considered in patients with fever, headache, sore throat and malaise, in whom Malaria has been ruled out with a rapid diagnostic test (RDT), especially when patients are not getting better.

“Health workers should adhere to standard precautions including wearing protective apparels when handling suspected Lassa fever patients.

“The revised Lassa fever case management guidelines are available on the NCDC website, www.ncdc.gov.ng,’’ the NCDC boss added.

NAN reports that Lassa fever is a viral infection caused by the Lassa fever virus, primarily transmitted to humans through direct contact, eating food or drinking water contaminated with urine, faeces, saliva or blood of infected rats.

However person-to-person transmission is through contact with blood, urine, saliva, throat secretion or semen of an infected person.

The disease can be treated with early presentation at a healthcare facility greatly increasing the chances of survival.

Early signs of the disease include sudden fever, sore throat and general body weakness.

Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, the Chief Executive Officer, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC)/premiumtimesng

The Federal Government on Monday says there is a decline in number of new cases of Lassa fever in the country.

FG reports massive decline in Lassa fever cases

<h1>The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has confirmed 23 new cases of Lassa fever that were recorded between Feb. 18 and Feb. 24.</h1>

NCDC’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, made this known in a statement on Friday in Abuja.

Ihekweazu said that 1,279 suspected cases had been reported from 32 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) from Jan. 1 to Feb. 24, 2019.

He said that 381 of this figure were confirmed positive, 15 probable and 858 negative.

According to him, from the onset of the 2019 outbreak, there have been 83 deaths in confirmed cases.

Case fatality ratio in confirmed cases is 21.8 per cent, he said.

The CEO said that Edo, Ondo, Bauchi, Nasarawa, Ebonyi, Plateau, Taraba, FCT, Adamawa, Gombe, Kaduna, Kwara, Benue, Rivers, Kogi, Enugu, Imo, Delta, Oyo, Kebbi and Cross River, had recorded at least one confirmed case in 66 local government areas.

He, however, noted that in reporting week 08, two new health workers were affected in Edo.

Ihekweazu said that 15 healthcare workers had been affected since the onset of the outbreak in seven states.

The NCDC said that 55 patients were hospitalised at designated centres for managing the illness: 27 in Irrua; nine in Owo; one in Abakiliki; one in Bauchi, seven in Plateau; seven in Taraba; one in Gombe; one in Kaduna, and one in Kebbi.

He said that 4,499 people suspected to have had contact with those infected, had been identified in 18 states.

Ihekweazu said that 1,987 of the suspected contacts were being followed up; another 2,461 had completed the mandatory 21 days of follow up, to be sure they did not show any symptoms.

He noted that four persons were lost to follow up, and 77 symptomatic contacts were identified, of which 47 tested positive.

The CEO said that multi-sectoral one health national rapid response teams (NCDC, NFELTP, Federal Ministry of Agricultural and Federal Ministry of Environment) were deployed to Ondo, Edo and Ebonyi.

NCDC provided an ambulance to the Federal Medical Centre, Owo, Ondo State, while the National Lassa fever multi-partner and the multi-sectoral Emergency Operations Centre continue to coordinate the response activities at all levels.

NCDC’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, made this known in a statement on Friday in Abuja.

Centre confirms 23 new cases of Lassa fever in Nigeria

<h1>The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Friday confirmed that 275 cases of Lassa fever were recorded since its outbreak in parts of the country.</h1>

This was made known in a statement by the Chief Executive Officer, NCDC, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, in Abuja.

Ihekweazu said that from Jan. 1 to Feb. 3, a total of 731 suspected cases were reported from 19 states, with 57 deaths in confirmed cases, putting fatality rate in confirmed cases at 20.7 per cent.

“Edo, Ondo, Bauchi, Nasarawa, Ebonyi, Plateau, Taraba, FCT, Adamawa, Gombe, Kaduna, Kwara, Benue, Rivers, Kogi, Enugu, Imo, Delta and Oyo states recorded at least one confirmed case across 51 local government areas.

“In the reporting week 05, four new healthcare workers were affected in Edo state. A total of nine healthcare workers were affected since the onset of the outbreak in four states with one death in Enugu.

“Ninety eight people were hospitalised at designated centres for managing Lassa fever: 42 in Irrua, 25 in Owo, eight in Abakiliki, five in Bauchi, seven in Plateau, 11 more elsewhere.

“A total of 2,791 people suspected to have had contacts with those infected have been identified across nine states,’’ Ihekweazu said.

He said that 2,080 of the suspected contacts were being followed up; another 647 have completed the mandatory 21 days of follow up to be sure they show no symptoms.

He also stated that symptomatic contacts have been identified of which 13 have tested positive.

“Multi-sectoral one-health national rapid response team (NCDC, NFELTP, Federal Ministry of Agricultural and Federal Ministry of Environment) deployed to Ondo, Edo, Ebonyi, Plateau and Bauchi states.

“High level advocacy visit was paid by the Director General of NCDC and WHO to Gov. Simon Lalong of Plateau state,” he added.

NCDC assured that the National Lassa fever multi-partner, multi-sectoral Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) continues to coordinate the response activities at all levels.

This was made known in a statement by the Chief Executive Officer, NCDC, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, in Abuja.

NCDC confirms 275 Lassa fever cases

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jessica.onyegbula

Articles written by the author

NCPC urges Christians to pray for Nigeria

FG reports massive decline in Lassa fever cases

Centre confirms 23 new cases of Lassa fever in Nigeria

NCDC confirms 275 Lassa fever cases