Nigeria launches disease control website

. Nigeria launches disease control website

Health / Comments
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.