FG pledges stronger ties with research centres to stop disease outbreaks

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The Federal Government has reaffirmed its commitment to strengthening collaboration with private and independent health research institutions to tackle existing diseases and prevent future outbreaks in the country.

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The Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Jide Idris, made the remark during a high-level technical visit to the Kano Independent Research Centre Trust in Kano on Wednesday.

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He said the NCDC would deepen collaboration with the KIRCT and other independent and private health research institutions with a view to improving Nigeria’s health security.

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“We are also pushing for more collaborations with various state governments to support them in detecting and controlling factors that could lead to disease outbreaks,” he said.

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Idris added that the NCDC intends to fast-track this plan by leveraging local expertise.

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“Our plan for collaboration needs to be fast-tracked because we have many scientists across the country. We need to pull them together and encourage them to do work that was hitherto done by people outside Nigeria. It is time we built our local capacity to do these things and showcase them,” he stated.

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He appreciated KIRCT for its cutting-edge research facilities and skilled personnel, describing the centre as “an organised institution with dedicated staff.”

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“We are going to work together. We will exchange materials, train jointly, link with each other on public health decisions, and see how we can support them,” he added.

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Also speaking, the Director-General of KIRCT, Professor Hamisu Salisu, thanked the NCDC Director-General and his technical team for the visit.

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“He has come, he has seen what we have, and I am very excited that he has a positive impression of our work here,” Prof. Salisu said.

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He noted that while KIRCT already collaborates with the Kano State public health system, more collaboration is needed from the NCDC, especially on the handling of bio-specimens.

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“We are a private entity. We collaborate with the government and with everybody. But for certain sensitive areas, especially deadly infections, we must have the green light from the NCDC because the Centre is the lead agency for health security in this country,” he said.

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