Nigeria Gets Disease Control Website


By Chioma Umeha
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control has launched a website that will be at the centre of the digital channels to be deployed for communications functions.
The site, which is now live, will also serve as the primary source of health information to Nigerian citizens, journalists and health workers for information on how to protect themselves from health threats.
At the official launch in Abuja, CEO of the NCDC, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, appreciated the role of the University of Maryland, MGIC-Nigeria project in the implementation of the project. He said communications and technology, would play major role in the overall fulfilment of the mandate of the NCDC.
“We are not deploying a back office for communications at the NCDC, we are picking the best hands possible and we are placing the function at the level it deserves to be. The website we are launching today is core to all our activities and we hope it goes ahead to fulfil our intentions in the Nigerian health space,” Ihekweazu noted at the launch.
The Country Representative of MGIC-Nigeria, Mrs. Mercy Nyiang, spoke about the commitment of the institution to working with the NCDC in implementing activities towards strengthening surveillance in Nigeria.
Technical Assistant to the CEO on Communications, Dr. Lawal Bakare, said Nigerians can expect a lot from the website.
He highlighted that an integrated system which allows the NCDC to focus on two communications functions is being pursued.
“The NCDC hopes to showcase a strong corporate brand and fulfill NCDC’s responsibility in risk communication. These dual communication goals require that we focus on the minutiae elements of brand building and communication for mitigating and responding to disease threats. This website allows us to deploy web technology for both functions at once,” Lawal noted.
Nigerians can now visit www.ncdc.gov.ng, navigate to know more about their NCDC and learn how to protect themselves now and in the future. The centre’s social channels on Twitter (@NCDCgov) and Facebook.com/NCDCgov are active and are always open for engagement.
The Centre’s messenger account, m.me/ncdcgov is also open especially for journalists’ engagement.

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