The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and the Nigeria Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Programme (NFELTP) is hosting the 4th NCDC/NFELTP Annual Scientific Conference in Abuja, from the 10th to 11th of September 2019.
The conference with the theme “APPLIED EPIDEMIOLOGY: Providing Evidence for Public Health Action” will bring together the best minds in the field to assess the impact of field epidemiology on public health and outbreak response in Nigeria and globally, and the use of applied epidemiological methods to provide evidence for decision making to drive precise public health action.
Plenary speakers at this year’s conference include notable thought leaders in global public health speaking on insightful topics around health security, laboratory surveillance, philanthropist interventions in health emergencies, preventing and preparing for epidemics as well as utilising social media for health emergencies. The keynote speaker is the Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr. Faisal Shuaib.
The 4th NCDC/NFELTP Annual Scientific Conference addresses 11 main themes including outbreak investigation, emergency preparedness and response, vaccine-preventable diseases and immunization strategies, surveillance and information management systems, neglected tropical diseases, malaria and other vector-borne diseases, risk communication, and public health systems strengthening.
Since 2016, the NCDC and the NFELTP has held the annual scientific conference to provide a platform for experts working in epidemiology to measure progress, identify new opportunities for real-life application of concepts, impart new knowledge and skills to advance public health science; and to reflect on lessons learnt in our response to disease outbreaks and other public health priorities in Nigeria.
The Nigeria Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Programme is run by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, in partnership with the African Field Epidemiology Network (AFENET), in collaboration with the Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria and the University of Ibadan, with the support of the United States Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (US-CDC). The programme works with the Ministries of Health and Ministries of Agriculture at the Federal and State levels to develop public health capacity, strengthen health systems and respond to disease epidemics and other priority public health issues in the country.
Since 2008, the NFELTP has recorded several success stories. During the 2014-2016 Ebola pandemic, apart from curtailing the spread locally, NCDC’s technical staff and NFELTP-trained field epidemiologists also supported other affected West African countries to successful control the pandemic. Also, the program has been critical to Nigeria’s successful control of various disease outbreaks such as cerebrospinal meningitis, Lassa fever, measles, yellow fever, cholera, and monkeypox over the years.