Epidemiologists want national public health school

The Epidemiological Society of Nigeria (EPiSON) has called for the establishment of a national school of public health to coordinate public health matters in Nigeria.  The society made the call in a communiqué issued by its president, Prof. A. I Zoakah, and secretary, Dr M. A. Ashikeni, after the 5th annual scientific conference and general […]

The Epidemiological Society of Nigeria (EPiSON) has called for the establishment of a national school of public health to coordinate public health matters in Nigeria.
 The society made the call in a communiqué issued by its president, Prof. A. I Zoakah, and secretary, Dr M. A. Ashikeni, after the 5th annual scientific conference and general meeting of EPiSon held recently in Abuja with the theme: “The practice of epidemiology in Nigeria: Lessons and challenges.”
 The participants identified unreliable national public health data which used to result in multiple figures for any epidemiological index in Nigeria among major challenges of epidemiology in Nigeria.
 Other challenges, said the statement, included inadequate funding for research, poor dissemination of research findings and weak collaborative programmes/approaches for EPISON.
 The members resolved to strengthen data collection system, especially in departments of public health, planning, research and statistics, at all levels, and liaise with the Nigeria Center for Disease Control in its activities and programmes.
 They said that the EPiSON would train and re-train epidemiologists to effectively address the growing surge of diseases.
 It advised that national data and health indices should be verified and validated by the federal ministry of health and published for public use.