Nigeria marked a significant milestone on September 1, 2023, by celebrating the graduation of the inaugural cohort of the Lassa Fever Clinical Management Fellows (LFCMF) at the Irrua Specialist Hospital in Edo State.
This achievement was the fruit of a collaboration between the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (US CDC), the Federal Ministry of Health, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Georgetown University, the Institute of Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers and Emergent Pathogens of Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital and the Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital Abakaliki.
This groundbreaking fellowship is the first of its kind globally.
The core objective of the Fellowship is to build and enhance capacity in the clinical management of Lassa fever, with a special focus on areas such as general management, neurology, paediatrics, obstetrics, gynaecology and nephrology.
Additionally, it aims to safeguard healthcare workers by reducing health facility transmission and the risk of Lassa fever spreading among them. The inaugural LFCMF cohort comprises doctors, with plans to broaden future cohorts to include nurses, laboratory scientists, hygienists and various other public health professionals.
During the closing event, programme director of the US CDC Division of Global Health Protection, Dr. Farah Husain reaffirmed the US CDC’s unwavering commitment to promoting strategies that target the prevention, detection, and response to all public health threats. Husain underscored the importance of collaborative efforts with partners to implement specialised training programs.
Lassa fever, similar to Ebola and Marburg virus diseases, is endemic in Nigeria.
In 2023, the country reported over 1,000 confirmed cases and 171 fatalities spanning 111 local government areas across 28 states. The prevalence of infections and deaths among healthcare workers is particularly concerning, with 48 workers contracting the virus between January and July of this year. Supporting Nigeria in reducing morbidity and mortality from Lassa fever remains a top priority for the US CDC.
