Ebola Virus Disease: Health State Minister commends United Nations, shares Nigeria’s success story.

(Federal Ministry of Health Report) - The Minister of State and Supervising Minister of Health, Khaliru Alhassan (Dr) has commended the intervention of the United Nations Organisation and its support to countries in the fight against the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), noting that these interventions have helped in no small measure to curtail the spread of the disease.

The Minister gave this commendation in a statement to the 64th Session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa in Cotonou, while sharing the experiences of Nigeria 's Ebola success story with the 47 member-nations body. The Minister suggested that the Ebola response for Africa should be coordinated by the African Union (AU); indicating that the AU should work through regional bodies such as ECOWAS in the case of West Africa for all support to be coordinated by regional bodies and the AU should provide strategic guidance and leadership.

During the conference of which Nigeria was constantly mentioned as a reference point for successful Ebola containment response, the country 's Health Minister shared its EVD containment strategy with the regional health body. He recalled that on the 20th of October 2014, having completed forty-two days without any confirmed case of the Ebola Virus Disease, the WHO declared Nigeria Ebola free.

"However, Government has not let down its guard and is still advocating for Nigerians to inculcate healthy habits that will further prevent the spread of the disease such as good personal hygiene, environmental sanitation and regular hand washing, " he iterated. "The ban on the repatriation of human remains into the country and the interstate movement of corpses still remains in place and can only be waived with the permission of the Minister of Health or the Commissioner of Health of a particular State as applicable.

The 64th Session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa will end tomorrow."

Source: FMH NG