The West African Health Organisation (WAHO) has strengthened surveillance and measures against the spread of mpox disease.
The organisation under the auspices of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has also raised alarm over the continued spread of the disease even as it warned against the consumption of bushmeat.
The WAHO Technical Advisor on Cross-Border Surveillance and Workshop Capacity Development, Dr Aisha Usman spoke with newsmen on the sidelines of the National One Health Surveillance And Information Sharing Operational Tool (SIS-OT), Operational Workshop held in Lagos.
The four-day workshop is being attended by stakeholders from the National Centre For Disease Control (NCDC); the Federal Ministries of Agriculture and Food Security; Environment, among other agencies.
Usman who spoke on the outbreak of mpox stated that the organisation had strengthened cross-border surveillance while at the same time engaged in information sharing with relevant stakeholders to stop cross-border transit of the disease.
According to her, while the disease has been confirmed in four countries, it has been endemic in Nigeria since 2022.
“For the West African regions, we have four countries that have confirmed cases of monkeypox including Nigeria but Nigeria specifically, we can say that mpox is endemic here because we have been reporting cases since 2022. I believe the NCDC are on top of the situation, they have an emergency guide and management and a series of training that have been conducted.
She advised that since mpox is spread from animals to humans, human to human and animal to animal, it is important for people to avoid the consumption of bush meat.