From 24-28 June, Nigeria welcomed a WHO-led team to assess and support national International Health Regulations (IHR) capacities at Points of Entry (PoE) across the nation.

PoE represent the international entry and exit for travellers and commerce in a country and encompass airports, seaports, and ground crossings. Under the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR) countries are required to maintain core capacities to detect and respond to public health threats at all times.

The findings from this mission will help strengthen national capacities for implementing IHR, and in turn safeguard public health through better prevention, early detection and response to public health events related to international travel and transport in Nigeria and globally.

The team visited the Seme ground crossing with Benin Republic, Apapa Seaport, and both the international airports at Lagos and Abuja, conducting numerous on-site interviews with many staff across different ministries and diverse stakeholders at the Points of Entry.

During Nigeria’s Joint External Evaluation (JEE) in June 2017, PoE capacities were identified as strategic areas for significant improvement, and since then the country has performed national self-assessments on key designated PoE.

Dr. Ibrahim Mamadu from the Health Emergencies Programme, WHO Nigeria highlighted the significance of Points of Entry for the country as “critical given the number of public health events that the country faces internally, and the several public health hazards in the region which can easily be imported into the country”. Dr. Mamadu further reiterated WHO’s commitment to taking forward the JEE recommendations, which have been used to develop a National Action Plan for Health Security (NAPHS), and to supporting Nigeria to implement these critical activities.

The mission team’s findings further delved into the present capacities and were tailored to each of the specific PoE during the visit. While overall case management was a collective strength, common challenges related to environmental health matters, in particular to water safety were highlighted.

The mission included representatives of all 3-levels across WHO Organization (Regional Offices for AFRO & EMRO, WHO Nigeria Country Office, and WHO Headquarters (CPI/TTM), in addition to experts from the UK and Pro-Health International.