From Dele Ogbodo and Echezonachukwu Nduoma in Abuja
The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) yesterday called for closer collaboration between operators of the Aviation sector and members of the organised public health practitioners in order to check the spread of communicable disease through air travel.
Briefing newsmen yesterday in Abuja, during ICAO‘s second Global Coordination Meeting and Regional Steering Committee of the Cooperative Arrangement for the Prevention of Spread of Communicable Disease through Air Travel (CAPSCA), the Minister of Aviation, Mrs. Stella Oduah, said government was taking effective measures to prevent the spread of diseases such as cholera epidemic typhus small pox and yellow fever at the nation's airports.
Oduah added that government would keep in close consultation with both local and international agencies concerned with the regulations relating to sanitary measures at the country’s airports.
The minister said: “The ICAO convention requires states to establish a national aviation plan in preparation for outbreak of a communicable disease posing a public health risk or public health emergency of international concern. “It is a fact that the actions of one state affect the health risks in another, as travelers move between different states.” Oduah added that it is in recognition of government’s responsibility to its citizens and to the international community that Nigeria made the commitment to join the CAPSCA project.
Oduah stated that when the H1N1 pandemic occurred in 2009 the sensitisation of all stakeholders and the training the government conducted ensured that the country was fully prepared at all international airports. She added: “It was gratifying to see the then Minister of Health embarking on sensitisation drive on the pandemic while working closely with NCAA.” The collaboration between the Ministry and the health sector, she stressed was therefore of primary importance for achieving and sustaining the achievements of the CAPSCA project.
In a remark, the Director General of NCAA, Mr. Harold Demureen, said the country had the honour of hosting an ICAO CAPSCA airport assistance visit in 2009 in which aviation experts from the regional coordinators from West and Central Africa, East and Southern Africa coordinated the assisted visit.
He said: “We as a country feel very priviledged to be chosen by ICAO to host this very important ICAO CAPSCA global coordination meeting and workshop. “ICAO Assembly Resolution A35-12 which states the prevention of the health of passengers and crews on international flight is an integral element of safe air travel and the conditions should be in place to ensure its prevention in a timely and cost effective manner.”
source: thisdaylive
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