The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has confirmed that Lassa fever claimed 168 lives, including 17 probable deaths, between January and August 2024.
This staggering loss represents a case fatality rate of 17.1 percent out of the 7,973 suspected cases reported across 127 local government areas in 28 states. Out of these, 982 cases were confirmed, with 34 healthcare workers tragically affected.
In its latest update, the NCDC, led by Director General Dr. Jide Idris, outlined various efforts to curb the spread of the virus. These include the 2024 National Lassa Fever After Action Review workshop, multisectoral webinars, and participation in high-level Lassa Fever Taskforce meetings with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI).
Dr. Idris highlighted that the agency had ramped up political and financial advocacy with governors and commissioners to ensure adequate resources for managing the outbreak. Furthermore, the NCDC is intensifying risk communication and community engagement campaigns, planning to broadcast preventive messages in local languages across radio and TV from September.
The agency has also taken steps to assess operational readiness ahead of the outbreak season and initiated sanitation and deratization exercises in five hotspot states to curb the rodent population. With these measures, the NCDC aims for significant progress by October 2024.
To bolster its outbreak response, the NCDC will deploy surge teams from October, consisting of clinicians, laboratorians, infection prevention specialists, and contact tracers to ensure a coordinated and sustained intervention throughout the outbreak season.
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