ABUJA, Nigeria – Nigeria is seeking to strengthen its monitoring of drug-resistant infections through a partnership between the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) and Germany’s Robert Koch Institute, with a focus on improving laboratory capacity, surveillance data and coordination among healthcare institutions.
The two institutions convened a two-day stakeholder dialogue in Abuja under the NiCaDe AMR Project, bringing together sentinel laboratories, healthcare institutions, academics and development partners to review a decade of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) surveillance data and identify gaps in the country’s response.
Discussions focused on improving laboratory capacity, strengthening data quality, promoting institutional mentorship and expanding collaboration across different levels of the healthcare system, according to the NCDC. Participants also examined ways to improve diagnostic stewardship and encourage the responsible use of antimicrobial medicines, including antibiotics.
Antimicrobial resistance occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites develop the ability to withstand medicines that previously treated the infections they cause. This can make infections more difficult to manage and increase the risk of severe illness and death. The stakeholder engagement identified priority actions to guide the development of a national Hub-and-Spoke framework for strengthening AMR surveillance and antimicrobial stewardship.
The proposed model is expected to improve coordination between laboratories and healthcare facilities, support the sharing of reliable surveillance information and strengthen the evidence available to guide public-health decisions. The NCDC reaffirmed its commitment to improving Nigeria’s capacity to detect, monitor and respond to drug-resistant infections.
However, the agency’s announcement did not specify the number of laboratories expected to participate in the proposed framework, the implementation timeline or the funding required to expand the surveillance network. The effectiveness of the partnership will depend on whether participating facilities can sustain laboratory testing, produce reliable data and translate surveillance findings into better treatment practices.
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