As Nigeria works towards achieving the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) 2024 targets and meeting the International Health Regulations (IHR) requirements by strengthening workforce development, disease surveillance, emergency response, and laboratory capacity, the United States has trained 40 Nigerians in public health emergency preparedness and response.
The US Consul-General, Claire Pierangelo, speaking during the closing and graduation ceremony after a two-week capacity-building exercise on public health emergency management, for 40 Nigerians, underscored the US government’s commitment and prioritisation of public health emergency management.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US-CDC), the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), and Georgetown University collaborated to deliver the professional certification training.
About 40 participants drawn from the NCDC, State-level ministries of health, Nigeria Port Health Services, and the Nigerian military, were certified in the first cohort of the intermediate-level Public Health Emergency Management Professional Certification Programme (PHEM PC). The training, adapted from the US-CDC, was delivered by Georgetown University, a leader in Public Health Emergency Management training.
The Consul-General, highlighted the strategic partnership between the US and Nigeria in strengthening health security and response to disease threats. “The US government is committed to promoting the health and well-being of Nigerians through initiatives and training that increase disease prevention, detection, and response,” she added.
The PHEM PC Program equipped emergency managers, incident managers, state epidemiologists, first responders, watch managers, and other public health experts with specialised training in crisis and emergency risk communication, public health emergency management functions, and operations. The knowledge, competencies, and skill set taught in the course will help officials coordinate public health emergencies.
In 2019, Nigeria became a GHSA partner country committed to achieving GHSA 2024 targets and IHR requirements. The PHEM training is part of the US government’s efforts to support pandemic preparedness in Nigeria and globally.