The Federal Government is to launch a five-year Lassa Fever Strategic Plan (2025-2029), which aims to utilise a multi-sectoral coordination approach to control Lassa Fever.
The comprehensive Lassa fever strategic plan (2025-2029) will employ a “One Health” approach to address animal-human-environmental health, focusing on surveillance and early warning systems, rodent control, vaccine and therapeutic development, public education on transmission reduction, strengthening healthcare capacity, and regional collaboration.
Lassa fever poses a persistent public health threat in Nigeria and throughout West Africa.
Despite growing response efforts, the absence of a national strategic plan in endemic countries has undermined long-term sustainability.
Nigeria’s first comprehensive Lassa Fever Strategic Plan (2025–2029) provides a model for integrating epidemic preparedness into national health policy, while fostering regional collaboration.
Assistant Director in the Federal Ministry of Livestock Development, Dr Daniel Egom Okomah, who disclosed this while presenting a paper titled, “Lassa Fever: The Experience of Nigeria,” at the ongoing ECOWAS Lassa Fever International Conference in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, decried the inadequate connection between veterinary, wildlife, and human health laboratories, as well as the poor diagnostic support in rural health centres.
Okomah noted that Lassa fever control requires integrated action on the human, animal, and environmental interface.
He listed the risk factors amplifying Lassa Fever spread to include wildlife hunting and bush meat consumption, poor food hygiene and processing practices, poor risk communication, especially to farmers and traders, poor sanitation in high-burden areas, gaps in surveillance at the animal-human interface, weak laboratory capacity for early detection in animals and the current Gaps in Diagnostic and Surveillance Systems.
Okomah noted that human cases are linked to rodent exposure and unsafe practices in food and environment, adding that over 70 per cent of Nigeria’s population engages in farming for subsistence purposes.
He stated that, due to poor financing and infrastructure in the agro-processing sector, most food processing is carried out locally using traditional methods.
Okomah observed that a One Health approach is the most sustainable pathway for Nigeria, as the region is actively curbing the disease, emphasising that Lassa Fever control requires integrated action.
He emphasised that reservoir control and improved food hygiene are crucial, noting that enhanced risk communication, surveillance, and laboratory capacity will help mitigate the impact.
Okomah called for sustained funding for veterinary and wildlife surveillance, alongside increased engagement with farmers and communities on rodent-proofing.
He advocated developing rapid diagnostic tests for both humans and animals, and strengthening enforcement of food safety and wildlife trade regulations through cross-sectoral training on outbreak investigation.
Okomah emphasised the importance of reinforcing the enforcement of food safety and wildlife trade regulations and the development of rapid diagnostic tests for both humans and animals.
He emphasised the need for a unified health coordination and a multi-sectoral incident management system that includes veterinary, wildlife, and environmental experts. He also highlighted the importance of joint risk communication strategies aimed at farmers, hunters, and food processors.
Okomah further stressed the necessity for research collaborations on rodent ecology, virus evolution, and transmission pathways.
He advocated for community-based rodent control, regulation of bushmeat hunting and trade, enhancement of food storage and processing hygiene, and capacity building for field veterinary and para-veterinary officers.
