FCTA, WHO to develop robust roadmap for health emergency response

<p>Following inadequacies in the management of emergencies, the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), with the support of the World Health Organisation (WHO), will within a two-year timeline develop a robust roadmap of response activities in health emergencies in the territory.</p>, <p>In particular, the FCTA working together with WHO will develop a roadmap that would bring up responsible officers and establish a monitoring and evaluation framework for emergency response activities to be implemented within the timeframe of two years.</p>, <p>Making this disclosure Dr Kumshida Balami, the Coordinator for the Africa Volunteer for Sustaining Strengthening and Utilising Response Groups for Emergencies (SURGE) in Nigeria, said WHO is giving its technical support and contributions in the areas of supporting the FCT with a digital learning platform for health emergency coordination.</p>, <p>Balami, who is of WHO Nigeria Country Office, who spoke during a disease surveillance refresher training organised as part of the scoping mission programme, in Abuja, added that WHO will train a minimum of 80 responders in the FCT, who are ready and prepared to respond to health emergencies within 24-48 hours when they occur.</p>, <p>She said, in the course of the week, they are basically conducting a scoping mission in the FCT, to be able to assess the status of the FCT capacity in response to health emergencies.</p>, <p>She noted that some of the challenges identified are the limited human resources in emergency response, which is what most people have observed, adding that there is a lack of agility in response teams, as a lot of responders are fatigued or are not really motivated to their level of expectation.</p>, <p>“We will be engaging stakeholders in health emergencies response in FCT, to be able to understand what is the capacity of FCT to respond in the event of an emergency. We will together identify the gaps for emergency response, develop the roadmap to be able to implement activities that will close the ident