United States Deputy Assistant Secretary for West Africa and Security Affairs, Bureau of African Affairs, Whitney Baird, Wednesday commended the “strong partnership” between the Nigerian and American militaries with a view to “strengthen public health.”
The laboratory, which represents an
excellent example of military to military collaboration, was aimed at addressing deadly infectious diseases affecting Nigeria and the West African region.
The US Envoy, in company of Mrs. Olu Mustapha, representing the Permanent Secretary for Defence, inspected the facility, which is jointly staffed by personnel from the Nigerian Ministry of Defence and the United States Army Medical Research Directorate-Africa/Nigeria (USAMRD-A/N).
The state-of-the-art laboratory provides medical laboratory services to Nigerian service members, their families, and military communities in Abuja and surrounding states.
The facility is the only lab in West Africa accredited by the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation and it has conducted over 8,000 tests per day. It is one of the largest labs supporting the testing of HIV viral load samples – a routine test for HIV-positive patients – from medical facilities across the country.
The partnership has expanded to 43 military medical facilities and it has completed four research protocols, including two Phase II Ebola vaccine trials – the first of their kind in Nigeria.
In 2015, the partners added their expertise to the Joint West Africa Research Group, a collaboration driven by the West Africa Ebola outbreak and with the aim of enhancing the personnel and technological capacity of the region to prepare for, detect, and respond to future outbreaks of infectious diseases.
In 2004, the Nigerian Ministry of Defence and the US Department of Defence’s Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) partnered to respond to HIV/AIDS in Nigeria and to collaborate in delivering related treatment, care and support within the military community.
The partnership, implemented by the ministry’s Health Implementation Program (HIP) and WRAIR’s USAMRD-A/N, now provides HIV anti-retroviral therapy for 31,000 patients, but are collaborating to strengthen defences against other infectious diseases within and outside Nigeria.
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