Mamora: How we leveraged on COVID-19 to strengthen our health security

Olorunnimbe Mamora, minister for state health, says the federal government has leveraged on the outbreak of COVID-19 to strengthen the country’s health security.

Mamora spoke on Thursday during an online conversation organised by The Conversation Africa.

He said the federal government was able to establish molecular laboratories, infectious treatment centres, and other emergency response arrangements within one year of the outbreak of the virus.

Mamora said the government is “strongly aligned” with the target of the African Center for Diseases Control that the continent should produce at least 60 percent of its vaccines by 2040.

“The pandemic has created a sense of urgency around vaccine development and manufacturing in the African region,” he said.

“In Nigeria, we have taken advantage of this opportunity to fully establish our capacity for vaccine manufacturing. We have been closely working with Biovaccines Nigeria Limited, a joint venture between the federal government of Nigeria and May & Baker Nigeria PLC.

“Beyond vaccine manufacturing, we have leveraged on the COVID-19 pandemic to strengthen our health security. In about one year, NCDC has established at least one molecular laboratory in every state in Nigeria.

“We have completely digitised our infectious disease surveillance system and scale up the establishment of state public emergency operation centres in nearly all states.

“In terms of funding, we’ll continue to advocate for more funding to NCDC as the country’s public health institutions and other agencies of the federal ministry of health for us to strengthen our primary healthcare system.”

The event, tagged ‘Nigeria and The Next Pandemic: Preparedness, Response and Vaccine’, was attended by academics and health experts who shared their opinions on COVID-19 response in Nigeria and other African countries.

Oyewale Tomori, a professor of virology; Glenda Gray, a professor and member of the Academy of Science in South Africa;
Doyin Odubanjo, executive secretary of the Nigerian Academy of Science; Sade Ogunsola, a professor of medical microbiology; and Christain Happi, a professor of molecular biology and genomics, spoke at the webinar.