CDC: Africa must improve health systems — pandemic can break out any time

The Africa Centre for Disease Control (CDC) says governments in the continent must improve health systems in preparation for any possible outbreak of a pandemic.

Speaking on Thursday in an interview with Arise Television, Jean Kaseya, director-general of the Africa CDC, said one of President Bola Tinubu’s plans is the health security and the local manufacturing of medical products in Nigeria.

Kaseya said the Africa CDC is supporting the plan because it believes lessons are being learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Talking about the next pandemic doesn’t mean that we don’t currently have any outbreak. In Africa, we have two new outbreaks per week. It means we can have a pandemic at any time,” he said.

“In Africa CDC, my colleagues are not sleeping, we respond to outbreaks almost everyday.

“We still have cholera killing people and it has affected 16 countries in Africa, killing more than 4,000 people.

“People are so afraid of a pandemic that even in Nigeria, they forget that they are still battling the diphtheria outbreak.

“For us to be ready for the next pandemic, we have to make sure we have appropriate human resources. We need to make sure we have the laboratories in place. We need to also think about the availability of medicines and vaccines.”

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has severally warned that COVID-19 would not be the last pandemic and urged countries to be prepared for the next by improving their health systems.