The Federal Ministry of Health has commissioned a website for On – line Training and Awareness Campaign (OTRAC) on Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers (VHF). The website which was developed by a youth corps member serving with Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Mrs. Farida Mohammed Kabir is to establish a platform for education on the symptoms and treatment of VHF and other viral diseases.
Commissioning the project, in Abuja, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Mr. Linus Awute, stated that the project will bring about value addition to the health sector as it provides a platform for public sensitization and mobilization for disease prevention and control.
According to Mr. Awute, having the project commissioned by the Health ministry automatically makes the initiative a property of the ministry. He added that the website will be used for training and sensitization of medical doctors and other medical personnel. In his words he informed that ‘’ …doctors and in deed all health workers targeted for training will be mobilised to subscribe to this platform’’
Mr. Awute described the corps member’s effort as a great innovation which represents a mile stone in the Ministry’s containment effort of not only Ebola but other viral diseases.
In his summation, the Permanent Secretary task Nigerian youths to assist government’s effort in bringing about positive change that will put Nigeria at par with other developed countries of the world.
Speaking earlier, the CEO/National Coordinator, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Professor, Abdulsalami Nasidi commended Mrs. Kabir for her ingenuity to develop a soft-ware that has shocked many, within her short time of service in the organization adding that the soft ware had been endorsed for use as NCDC’s tracking project.
The Director General, NYSC, Brigadier General, Johnson Olawumi, represented by Mr. Samson Ateli, in his remark, he revealed that Mrs. Kabir’s effort which is in line with NYSC development initiative launched in 2014 is highly commendable. He appreciated FMOH for her continuous support for the scheme and training of corps members last year in all the 36 states in the country.
In her speech, Mrs. Kabir, a graduate of Zoology from ABU, Zaria, said she was motivated to embark on the project by the desire to disseminate information on VHF and similar diseases because of the scare and misery Ebola scourge brought on the country.
Imaobong Udoh
P&PR Unit (FMOH),
