FG Adopts Inter-Ministerial Approach to Tackle Nigeria’s Health Challenges

•Cancer care: NAMP tasks Tinubu, legislators on medical physics bill

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja and Bassey Inyang in Calabar

The federal government yesterday inaugurated a Steering Committee tagged, “National One Health Steering Committee to ensure speedy and effective response to existing and emerging health challenges in Nigeria.

According to the government, the initiative which aligns with the National Action Plan for Health Security (NAPHS) and was meant to be functional at the national level and subsequently fill gaps at the sub-national levels would promote collaboration across all sectors.

It was also meant to identify, assess, manage and reduce risks from zoonotic diseases by addressing their root causes.

Speaking while inaugurating the body headed by the Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Ifedayo Adetiba, in Abuja, yesterday, the Coordinating Minister of Health, Prof. Ali Pate, said the measure was meant to help the county prevent, prepare and also respond to health crisis that cuts access human and animal boundaries.

Pate said: “There is constant interactions between pathogens that cause diseases in animal health and health of human beings and the environment. That interrelationships we see daily, whether it is the case of Lassa fever, or monkey pox or even Ebola.

“The re-emerging pathogens, we need tackle them. We need to think about health in a wholistic manner. The idea of One Health approach and the inauguration of the steering committee is to guide in the context of the renewed hope agenda of this government, how Nigeria is able to prevent, prepare and also respond to health crisis that cuts access human and animal boundaries,” he said.

In addition, the Minister said the initiative was meant to begin to tackle the issue of antimicrobial resistance that most often cause havoc in human health.

“So this approach is meant to bring all stakeholders together under one  platform to tackle emerging health challenges in the country,” he said.

Explaining further, the Minister said the Health Ministry was focusing its energy on the implementation of appropriate health systems, strengthening of surveillance systems and advocacies, adding that “the Ministry of Agriculture will be speaking to those who are either pasturalists, herders or trying to deal with rabies and other infectious diseases that can spill over to human combinations”.

The minister also expressed belief that the One Health approach could prevent and minimise the impact of pathogens of destructive origins that could cause havoc to human health.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Association of Medical Physicists (NAMP) has urged President Bola Tinubu, and the National Assembly  to support the promulgation of the Medical Physics Regulatory Council (Establishment) Bill, 2022.

The call was made in Calabar, Cross River State during the association’s weeklong 2023 Annual, Scientific Conference and Workshop which ends on Friday.

Speaking at the official opening of the conference with the theme, “Medical Physics: Creating Innovation for Safe Radiation Medicine Practice,” President of NAMP, Prof. Fatai Balogun, said the bill seeks the promulgation of a law that would lead to the establishment of a Medical Physicists College, and a regulatory body to check the activities of academic and clinical medical physicists.

He said if the bill was passed and signed into law, it would enable the nation train those who want to go directly to clinical studies and would encourage more people to study Medical Physics.

Chairman Nigerian Medical Association, (NMA), National Cancer Committee, Dr. Samuel Otene, said the relationship between Clinical Oncologists and Medical Physicists was strong and symbiotic.

Otene, said while cancer care was a multi-disciplinary endeavor, its challenges still remains its high cost of treatment globally.