A two-week US capacity training for public health officials aimed at propelling Nigerian experts on public health emergencies rounded up in Lagos at the weekend.
The United States Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (US-CDC), the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), and Georgetown University collaborated to deliver the professional certification training.
Consul General, Claire Pierangelo, who spoke on Friday at the closing and graduation ceremony, 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 wellbeing of Nigerians through initiatives and training that increase disease prevention, detection, and response,” she said.
Pierangelo underscored the US government’s commitment and prioritisation of public health emergency management 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.
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) adapted from the US-CDC was delivered by Georgetown University, a leader in Public Health Emergency Management training.
The PHEM PC programme 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.
