{"id":62282,"date":"2025-03-07T10:08:21","date_gmt":"2025-03-07T10:08:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/?p=62282"},"modified":"2025-03-07T10:08:21","modified_gmt":"2025-03-07T10:08:21","slug":"ecowas-calls-for-urgent-action-on-lassa-fever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/2025\/03\/07\/ecowas-calls-for-urgent-action-on-lassa-fever\/","title":{"rendered":"ECOWAS Calls for Urgent Action on Lassa Fever"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Adenike Lawal<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), through its health agency, the West African Health Organisation (WAHO), has urged researchers, policymakers, and healthcare professionals to strengthen regional cooperation in combating Lassa fever and other emerging infectious diseases.<\/p>\n<p>In a statement released on Friday, March 7, 2025, WAHO announced the Second Lassa Fever International Conference, scheduled for September 2025 in C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire.<\/p>\n<p>Themed \u201cBeyond Borders: Strengthening Regional Cooperation to Combat Lassa Fever and Emerging Infectious Diseases,\u201d the conference aims to enhance outbreak preparedness, improve research capabilities, and boost regional coordination.<\/p>\n<p>Lassa fever, a viral hemorrhagic disease endemic to West Africa, continues to pose significant health risks in Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea.<\/p>\n<p>The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC), has reported 506 confirmed cases out of 2,492 suspected infections in 2025, with 95 fatalities.<\/p>\n<p>Despite being a World Health Organization (WHO) priority disease, Lassa fever outbreaks remain cyclical, resurfacing after containment efforts.<\/p>\n<p>Experts stress the need for sustained research, stronger health infrastructure, and cross-border collaboration to curb the disease\u2019s spread.<\/p>\n<p>Building on insights from the first Lassa Fever Conference hosted by NCDC in Abuja in 2019, the upcoming event will bring together scientists, policymakers, and key stakeholders to discuss advancements in vaccine development, outbreak response strategies, and long-term disease control.<\/p>\n<p>WAHO\u2019s Director General, Dr. Melchior A\u00cfSSI, warned that Lassa fever remains a persistent threat, with an estimated 100,000 to 300,000 infections annually and around 5,000 deaths.<\/p>\n<p>Climate change projections suggest that up to 600 million people could be at risk in the future, making urgent action critical.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Katrin Ramsauer of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), emphasized that the conference offers a crucial platform for global health experts to exchange knowledge, address research gaps, and shape future response strategies.<\/p>\n<p>The event will feature plenary sessions with regional and international health leaders, discussions on vaccine research, community surveillance, and financing strategies, as well as operational research and environmental health considerations.<\/p>\n<p>WAHO reaffirmed that no single country can tackle Lassa fever alone, stressing the need for data sharing, resource mobilization, and coordinated regional responses to effectively combat the disease.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Adenike Lawal The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), through its health agency, the West African Health Organisation (WAHO), has urged researchers, policymakers, and healthcare professionals to strengthen regional cooperation in combating Lassa fever and other emerging infectious diseases. In a statement released on Friday, March 7, 2025, WAHO announced the Second Lassa [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":62283,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[184],"tags":[59],"class_list":["post-62282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","tag-featured"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62282"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62282\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62284,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62282\/revisions\/62284"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}