We know that social sciences are important. We know that trust is central. We know that  human behaviour plays a large role in transmission but how do we measure these?

The hard questions at the 2nd #WHOHubSpeakerSeries. Watch the entire episode here.

🧵 Michael @M_B_Petersen spoke eloquently on how to use social sciences to build trust during a health crisis, acknowledging that trust is best built during peace time. 

“To sustain trust as a decision maker you need to trust those that you make decisions about”

#WHOPandemicHub

“The Quadripartite" (@WHO, @WOAH_Global, @FAO, @UNEP) is undertaking a One Health Intelligence Scoping Study (OHISS), to support improvement of early warning & risk assessment via enhanced sharing of information between environment, agriculture, animal & human health sectors

🧵 The #OHISS will identify opportunities & limitations of current information systems & how these might be improved to ensure priority information is shared with other One Health initiatives

The goal is to improve intelligence of ongoing & emerging threats

fao.org/documents/card…

We have now reported over 100,000 confirmed #COVID19 cases in Nigeria

This is a stark reminder of the reality we live in now - a virus that has affected over 100,000 lives and led to over 1,300 deaths within 11 months in Nigeria...with millions more globally

{Thread} In the last 4 weeks, we‘ve recorded a spike in the number of new #COVID19 cases

The virus is spreading fast, causing mild symptoms in some & severe illness/death in others. Many people
continue to experience fatigue & other symptoms even after recovery

We can not be too careful

The last 4 days have been busier than normal for us at @NCDCgov

We‘ve been responding to our 1st #COVID19 case, & associated panic. One thing we’re grateful for, is that the structures we built in the last 4 years have enabled our response in last 4 days

#NCDCSundayReflections Within 12 hours of the case presenting at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, we carried out laboratory tests, confirmed #COVID19 and issued a press release. Within 24 hours, we updated our advisory for the general public and other response activities

There has been a lot of concern globally, about the capacity of African countries to respond in the event of #COVID19 outbreak

One clear difference between the 2014 Ebola outbreak and now, is the rise of regional health institutes- @OoasWaho & @AfricaCDC

#NCDCSundayReflections Since the beginning of the #COVID19 outbreak in China, our coordination in Africa has been anchored by structures developed by @WHOAFRO, @AfricaCDC & @OoasWaho

These institutions have created a platform for collaboration, data sharing, training & capacity building

Last week, I was honoured to be part of the global research and innovation forum on #COVID19 convened by @WHO. The discussions we had and decisions made will be key in defining outbreak response activities now and in the long term

#NCDCSundayReflections We held important, sometimes difficult but critical discussions to develop a plan that will enable the global community access to interventions for us to quickly control the #COVID19 emergency

A research roadmap has been developed and can be accessed via who.int/blueprint/prio…

We can mitigate the impact of outbreaks by adequately funding national public health institutes at all times

Like @DrTomFrieden says, we must move from being reactive to stable, substantial & sustainable funding for outbreak preparedness #NCDCSundayReflections The 2017 Joint External Evaluation & the midterm assessment in 2019 in Nigeria, helped us assess our capacity to detect, prevent & respond to outbreaks

Importantly, it helped us identify critical gaps that exist. To close these gaps,we need increased funding for health security

In these critical times, the rapid spread of false information can be alarming and harmful.

“The decisions we make need to be guided by facts, not fear or panic” @DrTedros
#NCDCSundayReflections In strengthening our surveillance & preparedness for the novel #coronavirus, we’ve put in place significant measures

We‘ve agreed an initial national case definition to identify suspect cases

We‘ll review these criteria as additional information on #nCoV2019 becomes available

Increase in the no. of Lassa fever cases across the country has left many Nigerians asking why it keeps recurring

The answer is not lack of preparedness!

We are victims of our own success. Improved awareness & capacity to detect = detection of more cases

#NCDCSundayReflections The Lassa fever virus is spread by infected rats. These rats are found nearly everywhere in our environment and are very difficult to eliminate

With infected rats and without a vaccine, our country and several others, remain at high risk of #Lassafever transmission

"The boundaries we hold dear aren't respected by infectious diseases"

The recent emergence of a novel #coronavirus in Wuhan, China & its spread to other countries within weeks reminds us of the threat infectious diseases pose to all countries

#NCDCSundayReflections The emergence of the novel #coronavirus in Wuhan China and report of cases in Japan and Thailand, has raised concerns in countries.

Though the risk of spread to Nigeria is moderate according to @WHO, we remain at alert & continue to strengthen preparedness

Last week, it was an honour to host the Honourable Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire at our @NCDCgov National Reference Laboratory (NRL)

Deeply grateful for HMH's leadership and commitment to strengthen Nigeria’s public health lab network

#NCDCSundayReflections With our network of labs mostly for epidemic prone diseases we support;

* Supply chain management
* Preventive & corrective maintenance
* Training & capacity building
* Standardisation of testing methods

& other functions

We’re building a public health lab network,for #Nigeria

Last week, we released a public health advisory on #Lassafever

During the dry season, as a result of ecological factors, there is usually a rise in Lassa fever cases

.@NCDCgov & partners have worked hard to continuously improve preparedness & response

#NCDCSundayReflections With support from @FINDdx,we expanded our #Lassafever laboratories from 4 to 5

Federal Medical Centre, Owo, Ondo State, has a new lab with brand new equipment and other supplies required for #Lassafever diagnosis

Prior to this, @PandoraIDNet had supported Owo with a mobile lab

This year, I have enjoyed sharing our experience at @NCDCgov through the #NCDCSundayReflections.

Each week provided an opportunity to share our progress or challenges or plans.

Today, I will share reasons we are grateful for the year 2019 I am grateful for the progress we made this year, some of which I shared in my latest opinion piece

link.medium.com/Wo7qYtX6K2

This week was about celebrating the excellent work done by the #NCDCTeam across our three campuses in Lagos and Abuja, in 2019.

It has been another long but greatly fulfilling year and I’m proud of our work

#NCDCSundayReflections At the end of year townhall, our Departments shared the progress they have made in the implementation of our agency’s strategy plan.

Our Administrative Department spoke about the various organisational improvement initiatives that have been implemented this year

During the week, Fellows from our @IANPHIhealth/@CDCgov supported IMPACT course graduated and presented feedback from the 6-month programme.

The growth of public health leaders at NCDC and other organisations is inspiring

#NCDCSundayReflections The "Improving Public Health Management for Action" course (IMPACT) had midlevel managers from NCDC attending. We also opened this to our close partners from the FCT Epidemiology Unit, @AfenetNigeria & @GU_CGHPI in Nigeria

This is part of our vision to build leadership skills

I am incredibly proud of our network of national public health institutes and @NCDCgov ‘s role in this.

Last week, we were part of @IANPHIhealth annual meeting hosted in Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia

#NCDCSundayReflections At the beginning of the week, we were part of the new @AfricaCDC_IWD Leadership and Management Course for Directors of National Public Health Institutes in Africa.

Proud of the leadership from my brother @JNkengasong and his Team in creating a new public health order in Africa

Last week, we hosted the #NCDCPartners Day.

Over the last three years, we have built and strengthened partnerships with national, regional and global organisations. Several institutions work closely with us in protecting the health of #Nigerians

#NCDCSundayReflections Building partnerships requires a lot of investment.

At @NCDCgov, we have spent some of the last 3 years building our internal capacity to work with partners, manage funds, implement activities, develop and maintain trust.

Over the last one week, we had series of major activities at @NCDCgov.

One of this was the commemoration of the World Antibiotic Awareness Week.

Proud to share the progress we have made with #AMRactionNG since 2017

#NCDCSundayReflections In 2017, the Honourable Minister of Health at the time asked @NCDCgov to serve as the secretariat for the AMR response in Nigeria.
 
Since then, we have worked with @Fmohnigeria @FmardNg @FMEnvng, academia and partners to develop & strengthen Nigeria’s capacity on AMR

Exciting week ahead for us, as we carry out our mid-term Joint External Evaluation of International Health Regulations capacities.

Two years after #NGJEE17, time to re-evaluate, see how far we have come and identify priorities for the next three years

#NCDCSundayReflections During the JEE in 2017, we were only just starting our journey and it seemed like an impossible process.

However, with support from @WHO and partners, we carried on.

The most important part of the process was identifying key priorities to strengthen our #IHR capacities

#NGJEE

It has been an incredibly busy week for us. An important engagement for me, was a message to our State Epidemiologists working across the country.

Their role in national health security is critical and we’re constantly finding ways to support this

#NCDCSundayReflections At the State level, the State Epidemiologist has the primary responsibility for outbreak prevention, preparedness, detection & response.

However, most State Epidemiologists work in difficult circumstances with few resources and training opportunities

Over the last two weeks, we have had incidences of our routine reports being misinterpreted by the media.

Dedicating few tweets to explain how we @NCDCgov share our data and how we can work with the media in developing the right messages for #Nigerians

#NCDCSundayReflections As we have done for the last three years, every week we publish a National Weekly Epidemiological Report.

This provides data and information on epidemic prone diseases in Nigeria.

When numbers exceed a threshold, we declare an outbreak and publicly announce this