Military trained on diseases outbreak control

Health personnel in the armed forces have been trained on how to investigate and manage diseases during outbreaks. Speaking during the training yesterday in Abuja, Director General, Ministry of Defence Health Implementation Programme (HIP) Brigadier General Nuruddeen Hussain said it was aimed at building the capacity of armed forces personnel to respond promptly and effectively […]

Health personnel in the armed forces have been trained on how to investigate and manage diseases during outbreaks.

Speaking during the training yesterday in Abuja, Director General, Ministry of Defence Health Implementation Programme (HIP) Brigadier General Nuruddeen Hussain said it was aimed at building the capacity of armed forces personnel to respond promptly and effectively to outbreaks within the barracks , and indirectly contribute to the national response to epidemics.
He said the emerging and re-emerging disease in Nigeria and West Africa coupled with the troop’s involvement in regional peace effort makes it important to build capacity of armed forces health personnel towards health promotion and disease prevention.
Hussain said the Nigerian Ministry of Defence -US Department of Defence  HIV programme (NMOD-USDOD) is a military to military collaboration established in 2005 to curtail HIV/AIDS spread among troops and families, and having made success in HIV control has increased its mandate to diseases of public health and military significance and research.
Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Ambassador Danjuma Sheni said the training was timely in view of the current fight against Lassa fever and Zika virus disease.
He emphasized that the training should be  focused on establishing effective disease surveillance mechanism in all barracks , strengthening of laboratory capacity for diagnostic investigations, and increasing knowledge and operational skills of armed forces personnel in outbreak management.