Adamawa receives laptops, phones for disease outbreak reporting

Adamawa State has received laptops and phones from the World Health Organisation (WHO) for use by disease surveillance officers in the 21 local government areas to survey and report cases of disease outbreak.

Handing over the devices to the management of Adamawa State Primary Health Care Development Agency (APHCDA) in Yola, the state Coordinator of WHO, Dr Iyobisa Igbinovia, said WHO procured the laptops and phones with assistance from the Canadian Government for distribution to disease surveillance officers because things such as disease surveillance and reporting need to be done efficiently and fast.

“We believe that these devices will help the surveillance officers perform their functions in a more efficient manner,” he said.

He explained that disease surveillance officers should be able to pick incidents of disease occurrence and report them on time to their head office for action to be taken.

“With outbreaks of diseases anywhere, timely report to headquarters and prompt response is vital,” he added.

He said the ICT devices had similarly been donated by WHO to the other two states affected by insurgency, namely Yobe and Borno.

The Adamawa State Primary Health Care Development Agency received the 21 laptops and 21 handsets from WHO during a brief ceremony at the headquarters of the agency in Yola, with a pledge that the materials would be used for the intended purpose.

The Permanent Member 1 of the Agency, Yakubu Maji, who officially received the devices from WHO, said laptops and phones are vital tools for information gathering and would assist the disease surveillance officers greatly.

He explained, “The disease surveillance officers are people at the local government level who gather information regarding disease outbreak or whatever. They store the information and relay it to us here (at the headquarters) for action. These devices will be very useful in the task.”