Monkeypox: Health Ministry issues major directive for travellers to Nigeria

The Nigerian Ministry of Health has mandated that all travelers entering the country fill out a health declaration form to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.

This directive, detailed on the ministry’s official website, healthapp.ncdc.gov.ng, comes amid rising concerns about the resurgence of monkeypox in Africa.

News360 Nigeria reported four days ago that a new strain of monkeypox, now known as mpox, has emerged in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and neighboring countries. This Clade Ib subclade is deadlier and more transmissible than previous strains and is spread through person-to-person contact.

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Sunday that it is considering convening an expert committee to decide whether to declare an international emergency, as was done during the global mpox outbreak in 2022. The Clade Ib strain causes widespread skin rashes across the body, unlike other strains where lesions are typically localized to the mouth, face, and genitals.

According to the African Union’s health agency, Africa CDC, the DRC has recorded 14,479 confirmed and suspected cases of the Clade Ib strain, with 455 deaths reported as of August 3, representing a mortality rate of approximately three percent. However, researchers in the DRC warn that the mortality rate among children could be as high as 10 percent.

“The disease has been seen in the displacement camps around Goma in North Kivu where the extreme population density makes the situation very critical,” Louis Albert Massing, medical coordinator for Doctors Without Borders in DRC said.

In view of the above, the Nigeria Health ministry mandated all travellers to Nigeria to fill health declaration form.

“This form is an instituted measure to prevent the spread, monitor the possible importation of infectious diseases and aid the control of disease outbreaks thereby protecting the health of all Nigerians”, the ministry said on its website.