NiMet partners with NCDC to enhance disease preparedness, response

The NiMet's Director General, Charles Anosike, emphasised that climate change poses significant health threats.

The Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NiMet) has partnered with the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to enhance disease preparedness and response, particularly for climate-sensitive diseases like cholera and malaria.

This was revealed by NiMet in a post on its X handle on Tuesday evening.

The agency stated that this collaboration aims to create a structured framework for data sharing and information exchange, supporting enhanced situational awareness.

Partnership

The agency believes that the partnership will enable the correlation of climate patterns with disease outbreaks, leading to better predictive models and risk assessments.

The NiMet’s Director General, Charles Anosike, emphasised that climate change poses significant health threats.

He said: “Climate change is the most impactful threat to our health. This partnership with NCDC will ensure that we improve our systems to go beyond what we are doing currently.

“It is a really important partnership for us to enhance preparedness and response to climate disasters. These are critical components of the early warning system, which is an initiative of the United Nations. It is important that we all make that investment so that we can protect all our citizens from climate disaster.”

The Director General NCDC, Jide Idris, also emphasised the significance of their collaboration with NiMet, stating that it marks the beginning of a powerful partnership that will facilitate the sharing of crucial data, expertise, and resources adding that this synergy will enable the NCDC to effectively monitor and address climatic and disease-related issues, ultimately strengthening their ability to prevent and respond to public health threats in Nigeria.

The DG expressed that the partnership with NiMet will enhance Nigeria’s ability to prevent and respond to public health threats, foster a stronger collaboration, and lead to a healthier and climate-resilient nation.

“This will help NCDC to improve our ability to prevent and respond to public health threats in Nigeria. This will not only strengthen the collaboration between the NCDC and NiMet but will further benefit the entire Nigeria. We will continue to embark on this journey that will bring prosperity to Nigeria and that will lead to not just a healthier nation but climatic resilient Nigeria,” Mr Idris said.

Climate-sensitive diseases

Climate-sensitive diseases are a major concern in Nigeria, where changing weather patterns and rising temperatures are increasing the spread of diseases. Climate change affects the health sector, particularly in regions like Africa, where public health systems are under severe pressure due to fragile socioeconomic conditions.

In Nigeria, diseases such as malaria, cholera, Lassa fever, and heat-related illnesses are exacerbated by climate change.

Malaria is more prevalent during rainy seasons and in areas with poor drainage, posing a significant threat to public health. Cholera outbreaks are triggered by flooding and poor sanitation, while Lassa fever transmission to humans has increased due to climate change expanding the habitat of rodents carrying the disease.

Heat-related illnesses are becoming more frequent, posing health risks, especially for vulnerable populations like the elderly and young children.

The World Health Organisation has stated that between 2030 and 2050, climate change is expected to cause approximately 250,000 additional deaths per year globally, mainly due to malnutrition, malaria, diarrhoea, and heat stress.