Kano Stakeholders Tackle Epidemic Preparedness at FIDAC Workshop
By Mustapha Salisu
To mark this year’s 2023 International Day of Epidemic Preparedness, The Fiscal Discipline and Development Advocacy Centre (FIDAC) with support from FCDO Lafiya Project organized a stakeholders workshop in line with global imperative to strengthen our protection against infectious threats.
The event which is celebrated every 27th of December annually with this year’s theme “Making the world safer: Creating and maintaining political momentum and solidarity for Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness, and Response” was commemorated on Wednesday at Tahir Guest Palace in Kano State.
Executive Director of FiDAC, Dr. Abdussalam Kani, while fielding questions from newsmen during the event disclosed that the motive behind the organization’s commemoration of the Day is tied to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 which affected every nation globally and that the most socially and economically vulnerable were most adversely affected.
Adding that, the event moved the World Health Organization (WHO) to advice every nation was adviced to develop precautionary measures in case of future outbreak.
“So we at FIDAC, our focus is to discuss current health emergency preparedness financing challenges and identify strategies to enhance health facilities’ capacity to effectively respond to disease outbreaks in Kano State. As well as to explore ways of increasing community awareness and participation in epidemic preparedness and responses” stated Kani.
The Executive Director equally urged the State House of Assembly to speed up passage of the two priority bills before the house which are (a) Kano State Health Security Bill and (b) Establishment of a State-owned Centre for Disease Control (CDC)
According to him the two bills will assist Kano State in the prevention, detection, response, recovery and preparednes against epidemic diseases.
He also urged the House to conduct public hearing on each of the bills to gather input of Kano State citizens for progressive output.
Earlier speaking, the Coordinator, Kano State Centre for Disease Control (KNCDC), Dr. Muhammad Adamu Abbas admonished that Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf has foreseen situation where epidemic will be curved even before they arise.
“In his manifesto he decided Kano state specifically should have a Centre for Disease Control (CDC) which is a replica of National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC)” he revealed.
Abbas further revealed that the Centre, in the 2024 budget attracted the sum of N1 billion take-off funds apart from N500 million Emergency Preparedness and Response funds for the year 2024.”
The workshop was attended by a wide range of stakeholders, including representatives from the government, civil society organizations, and the media.
The participants discussed a variety of topics, including the challenges of epidemic preparedness in Kano State, the importance of community engagement, and the role of the media in raising awareness about public health issues.
