Data power: SECURE-Nigeria has transformed surveillance, labs, public-health preparedness – FG

The federal government has underscored the central role of reliable data in early warning detection, improved public health outcomes, and the drive toward Universal Health Coverage, praising a five-year project for strengthening Nigeria’s disease surveillance and outbreak response systems.

At a close-out dissemination meeting in Abuja on Monday, officials reviewed the interventions of the Strengthening Global Health Security Agenda in Nigeria (SECURE-Nigeria) project, implemented by the International Research Centre of Excellence at the Institute of Human Virology Nigeria (IRCE-IHVN) from 2020 to 2025 with support from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of Global Health Protection.

Dr Jide Idris, Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC), said the project has helped build capacity at national and subnational levels. “Data quality is the cornerstone of effective public health action.

“At both national and subnational levels, we have strengthened our workforce’s capacity to collect, analyse, and interpret data for timely response,” he said, adding that SECURE-Nigeria has left a legacy in laboratory optimisation, outbreak intelligence, workforce development, and emergency response coordination.

Project Director Dr Rita Okonkwo described SECURE-Nigeria as an intervention designed to close gaps identified in Nigeria’s Joint External Evaluation and to strengthen compliance with the International Health Regulations (IHR 2005).

Working with the NCDC, the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, State Ministries of Health, and other partners, she said the project delivered targeted improvements in surveillance, laboratory systems, data use, infection prevention, and outbreak response.

One prominent output is the Data Analytical and Visualisation Tool (DAVT), launched in 2023, she revealed, noting, “The tool automatically generates weekly epidemiological reports, outbreak indicators, and multi-source data triangulation from SORMAS and other platforms”.

To improve the quality of inputs to DAVT, IHVN established a national Surveillance Data Quality Management system to support routine data reviews, accountability, and continuous improvement at the NCDC and in supported states, she added.

Okonkwo also pointed to enhanced epidemic intelligence through the Acute Febrile Illness Sentinel Surveillance (AFISS) system and the Pan-Respiratory Disease Surveillance platform.

“AFISS, implemented in six sentinel States, provided laboratory-confirmed insights on nine febrile pathogens,” she said, noting the value of multi-pathogen surveillance to guide clinical and public-health action.

Dr Sohia Oluwakemi Osawe, Senior Manager at IRCE-IHVN, said SECURE-Nigeria expanded PCR-based diagnostic capacity for 11 priority diseases across seven national and subnational laboratories, accelerating outbreak confirmation.

She credited the system with enabling early detection of mpox in 2022 and identifying increased dengue activity in 2025.

“Other achievements include strengthened COVID-19 vaccine safety monitoring, expanded infection prevention and control capacity, genomic sequencing for SARS-CoV-2, enhanced bio-banking, and large-scale serological surveillance using multiplex bead assay technology,” Osawe said.

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Workforce development formed a major strand of the project, participants said, pointing out that SECURE-Nigeria introduced e-learning curricula, provided advanced training in epidemiological analytics, and offered continuous mentoring for outbreak data-analysis teams operating at national and State levels.

Dr Farah Husain, Programme Director at the US CDC, commended Nigeria’s progress and underscored the partnership’s hands-on approach.

“We have collectively built and strengthened the data analytics skills of our public health workforce, sometimes quite literally experimenting side-by-side in laboratories. These contributions continue to strengthen Nigeria’s preparedness,” she said.

Prof Alash’le Abimiku, Executive Director of IRCE at IHVN, welcomed partners and highlighted the institute’s role in advancing research, building laboratory systems, and developing public-health expertise.

She acknowledged the support of the US CDC team and other collaborators, saying the dissemination meeting provided an opportunity to consolidate lessons and plan for sustaining the strengthened systems.

Organisers said the project’s tools and training must now be institutionalised and financed domestically to ensure that improved surveillance, laboratory, and data systems remain functional beyond donor funding.

They also called for continued investment in workforce development, data quality management, and laboratory networks as essential foundations for timely outbreak detection and effective public-health responses.