Scientists must support govt to contain epidemics – Expert

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A public health expert, Dr Babatunde Ipaye, has advised scientists to support the government in containing disease outbreaks.

Ipaye, who was a former Commissioner for Health in Ogun State, spoke on the sidelines of the annual general meeting of the Nigerian Biological Safety Association.

He said, “Scientists must get involved; they need to get out of the laboratory and get into the community. They must ensure that they support the containment and control efforts of the Federal and State Governments. The only way to control epidemics is to be ahead of the epidemic.

This can only be achieved when more Nigerians are tested; there is the need for community testing and surveillance to be sure every case or probable cases are caught. We have many more cases than we have reported in Nigeria.

“States should not have any excuse not to test; they need to be more proactive, there is a lot of support coming into the country, they come through the centre. The states need to approach the centre for the commodity they need. As we speak, I know that there are more than one million test kits in Abuja.”

The President of NIBSA, Prof. Abiodun Denloye, said, “The conference is an avenue to rob minds, share ideas about experiences on the field and in the laboratory. In the long run, Nigeria gains more in terms of the expertise skills that we have learnt from each others.”


Copyright PUNCH.

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