The Senate has called on the Federal Government to provide emergency funding from the service-wide vote to strengthen the country’s disease surveillance system and enforce mandatory health screening at all international airports, seaports and designated land borders to prevent the spread of Ebola and other epidemic-prone diseases.
The resolution followed a motion of urgent national importance sponsored by Senator Francis Faduyile, who raised concerns over the spread of the Bundibugyo Ebola virus and the risk it poses to Nigeria’s public health system.
Faduyile noted that the outbreak, which began in the DRC, had spread to other African countries, including Uganda and Kenya, highlighting the risk of infected travellers entering Nigeria through third countries.
He also cited the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention’s assessment of a high risk of Ebola importation, recalling that a single traveller brought the disease into Nigeria through Lagos in July 2014.
The Senate acknowledged the Federal Government’s existing measures, including the introduction of health declaration forms and enhanced screening at entry points.
Ebola virus disease was confirmed by laboratory testing.
Pate noted that the patient is a woman with a recent travel history to Uganda, who returned to Nigeria with symptoms on October 7, which progressed four days later before tests confirmed the infection.
However, the Ugandan authorities denied reports of an Ebola outbreak in the East African nation.
Uganda’s Ministry of Health said that the location of exposure remains under investigation, adding that travel through Uganda alone was insufficient to establish where the infection occurred.
It also stated that the Nigerian government had yet to provide detailed information about the patient’s travel itinerary and clinical history, which it said would help guide further investigations and any necessary contact tracing.
The deadly viral haemorrhagic fever has spread to several countries across the continent since the outbreak in the DR Congo in May.
Kenya reported its ninth Ebola case on Tuesday.
The DRC’s Ebola epidemic has become the deadliest in the country’s history in several months, killing over 4,00 people out of more than 9,000 confirmed cases, according to health authorities.
