NiMet, NCDC Partner To Tackle Climate-Sensitive Diseases, Public Health Threats

By Miriam Humbe

The Director General and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), Prof. Charles Anosike has said that the successes recorded by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) during the period of COVID pandemic leveraging technology has demonstrated that technology can help in solving societal problems in Nigeria.

Prof. Anosike spoke in his office on Tuesday, 17th September 2024, while exchanging views with Dr. Olajide Idris, the Director General of NCDC who paid him a courtesy visit.

The meeting allowed Heads of the two agencies to discuss a wide range of issues including identifying areas for collaboration such as early warning systems for climate-sensitive diseases and public health threats and how Climate data can be integrated into disease prediction models.

The impact of weather and climate on disease outbreaks such as Climate Change, vector-borne and water-borne diseases, framework for regular data exchange and analysis to inform public health decisions and potential proposal for a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for data sharing and joint research.

The NCDC Director General said that with Climate Change impacting health services delivery nationally and globally, it was important to partner with NiMet which already has data on the phenomenon.

Dr. Idris said: “It’s a good thing that NiMet has been working with the NCDC over the years. We only need to make the collaboration stronger”.

Professor Anosike said that this was a good time for stronger collaboration between NiMet and NCDC.

He said: “Every one of us is vulnerable to Climate Change. NiMet will look into all the areas identified including sharing of data and developing a draft MOU.

“Every year NiMet presents its seasonal climate prediction (SCP) which is an early warning tool. What is happening nationwide has been predicted.

“We issue three and seven days, one-month, three months, and daily forecasts.

“The impact of climate change is real all over the world. We are alerting the various states.

“Each state should set up its processes to manage the flooding and other arising issues”.

“Climate change poses threats to the health and well-being of all. It affects our food, the water we drink, and the air we breathe.

“This has caused the spread of certain pests and diseases across the world, not only in Nigeria. Climate change multiplies the threats. It compounds everything.”