Sustaining measures against Ebola

A female doctor with First Consultants Medical Centre, Lagos, Ameyo Adadevoh, sacrificed her life to save Nigeria when Ebola disease first came to the country in July 2014. She had quarantined the index case, a Liberian-American diplomat, Patrick Sawyer, and prevented him from leaving the hospital.

Nigeria’s saving grace then was that health authorities established an Emergency Operations Centre, conducted intensive contact tracing, and enforced strict isolation measures. This limited the number of deaths then to only eight.

The country should be extra careful this time. It will be a tragedy to add Ebola to other deadly diseases like malaria, Lassa fever, meningitis and diphtheria already ravaging some parts of the country.

Though a 42-year-old Ugandan-born woman living in Abuja tested positive for Ebola on October 20, health authorities have managed the situation well. The woman had reportedly returned to Nigeria from Uganda on October 3 and developed symptoms a few days after. She received treatment in isolation at a health facility in Abuja.

This index case, the wife of a Swiss diplomat in Nigeria, has been evacuated to Switzerland. This was based on diplomatic considerations, human rights and international health regulations, according to the Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Jide Idris.

Following this evacuation, WHO says the country can be certified Ebola-free after 42 days. But monitoring of 52 contacts linked to the confirmed case and other containment measures have continued.

Ebola has been a major problem for the Democratic Republic of the Congo. That country announced the end of its 16th Ebola outbreak in December 2025. But in May 2026, a rare strain of the disease, the Bundibugyo species, hit the country again. It reported a scary death rate of 50 per cent.

The virus was first identified in 1976. Between 2018 and 2020, the 10th outbreak, known as the Zaire strain, killed over 2,300 people in North Kivu and Ituri province.

As of November 2, 2026, the DR Congo, the epicentre of the disease, has recorded over 10,000 confirmed cases and over 5,000 confirmed deaths in the current outbreak.

Uganda reported 21 confirmed and probable cases and three deaths; Kenya recorded nine confirmed cases and two deaths; Nigeria and France reported one confirmed case each.

Yet, Nigeria has a particular concern. Nigeria’s U23 national men’s team have a two-legged AFCON 2027 qualifier. The first leg is scheduled for November 9 in DR Congo, and the second leg in Ogun State on November 17.

With Ebola raging in Congo, Nigeria should be careful. Instead of travelling to Congo, the Nigeria Football Federation should ask for the match to be played at a neutral venue.

Poor environment, limited access to clean water, and unsafe food practices such as eating raw or undercooked food contribute to the spread of this virus.

 Besides, eating or handling infected animals, and contact with infected bodily fluids such as blood, semen, saliva, or vomit, could lead to the spread of the virus to humans.

Symptoms manifest within two to 21 days. They include fever, headache, flu-like symptoms, tiredness, vomiting, and diarrhoea. Organ failure may eventually follow.

Nigeria should intensify efforts to combat this disease both at the federal and state levels. The most vulnerable points, such as the country’s borders and airports, should be well manned. Emergency services should be improved.

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People coming from abroad, especially East Africa, should be monitored and subjected to surveillance.

Gladly, the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare had intensified national preparedness and response measures to safeguard Nigeria against the disease as early as June this year.

The measures include strict border control and point of entry protocols such as universal temperature screening for arriving travellers, mandatory completion of health declaration forms and travel history assessments for inbound passengers, and enhanced surveillance and scientific monitoring.

Currently, the Presidential Task Force on Ebola Preparedness and the NCDC are reportedly coordinating multi-layered containment and sustaining measures, including the earlier-mentioned border control and point of entry protocols.

Health authorities are also said to be monitoring identified high-risk contacts as well as implementing financial compensation for individuals in mandatory or self-isolation.

According to the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Mohammed Pate, the country has been conducting contact tracing diligently. He assured Nigerians that the Federal Government, alongside its technical partners, had activated the incident management system across the various pillars.

Also, there is sensitisation of hospitals nationwide to patient screening, triage protocols, and safe management of suspected cases. Designated isolation units and specialised diagnostic laboratories are said to have remained active.

Robust Primary Health Care Centres helped Lagos a lot during the COVID-19 pandemic. They can help again to track Ebola cases.

Unfortunately, many states lack functional PHCs, as Nigeria’s health care system is in shambles. Most public hospitals lack the basic equipment needed for effective diagnosis and treatment.

The N10 billion President Bola Tinubu approved for the management of the disease should be well utilised and not frittered away.

Nigerians must engage in non-pharmaceutical protocols. They should regularly wash their hands with soap and clean water or use alcohol-based hand sanitisers. They should observe social distancing and restrict their travel, especially to high-risk countries like Uganda and the DR Congo for now. Suspected cases should be immediately isolated.

They should avoid direct contact with blood, bodily fluids, or the remains of people who died with the symptoms. Non-human primates such as monkeys, gorillas, and chimpanzees, or unmanaged bushmeat should be avoided.

Any contact with bats or bat droppings, or with blood, semen, or body fluid of sick people should also be avoided.

People should immediately report anyone displaying such symptoms as high fever, weakness, or unexplained bleeding to a health facility or call the NCDC toll-free line at 6232.

Relevant government agencies should embark on an enlightenment campaign to educate people on the causes, symptoms and preventive measures of the disease.