Federal Ministry of Health through Port Health Services has made it mandatory for travellers arriving in Nigeria to declare their health status via a form.
Gatekeepers News reports that the ministry announced this through a post on its website due to the resurgence of mpox across Africa.
The form will serve as a measure to track potential importation of mpox diseases, formerly known as monkeypox, preventing it from becoming a public health threat in Nigeria.
Head of Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), Jean Kaseya during an online media briefing on Wednesday, said the agency may declare mpox a public health emergency this week over growing outbreak on the continent.
About sixteen countries have been hit by mpox resurgence, according to the centre, with some 38,465 cases and 1,456 deaths recorded since January 2022.
As of July 14, Nigeria Center for Disease Control and Prevention report showed that 102 new suspected cases were reported from 18 states without any deaths recorded in 2024.
Speaking on why there is shortage of vaccines on the continent, Kaseya said, “We are moving from two outbreaks per week to three new outbreaks per week.”
World Health Organization announced on Wednesday it was urgently convening an expert committee to advise on whether the growing mpox outbreak in Africa should be declared an international emergency.
WHO director-general noted that he had triggered Emergency Use Listing (EUL) process of mpox vaccines given worrying trends in the spread of the disease.
