Prioritization of zoonotic diseases of public health significance in Nigeria using the one-health approach

Abstract

Nigeria, with a population of over 190 million people, is rated among the 10 countries with the highest burden of infectious and zoonotic diseases globally. In Nigeria, there exist a sub-optimal surveillance system to monitor and track priority zoonoses. We therefore conducted a prioritization of zoonotic diseases for the first time in Nigeria to guide prevention and control efforts. Towards this, a two-day in-country consultative meeting involving experts from the human, animal, and environmental health backgrounds prioritized zoonotic diseases using a modified semi-quantitative One Health Zoonotic Disease Prioritization tool in July 2017. Overall, 36 of 52 previously selected zoonoses were identified for prioritization. Five selection criteria were used to arrive at the relative importance of prioritized diseases based on their weighted score. Overall, this zoonotic disease prioritization process marks the first major step of bringing together experts from the human-animal-environment health spectrum in Nigeria. Importantly, the country ranked rabies, avian influenza, Ebola Virus Disease, swine influenza and anthrax as the first five priority zoonoses in Nigeria. Finally, this One Health approach to prioritizing important zoonoses is a step that will help to guide future tracking and monitoring of diseases of grave public health importance in Nigeria.

Keywords: Nigeria; One Health; Prioritization; Public Health; Zoonotic diseases.

Fig. 1

Participants of the Nigeria Zoonotic Disease Prioritization Process/Workshop by Professional Cadre, July 2017.

Fig. 2

Schematic representation of the Nigeria zoonotic disease prioritization process.

Fig. 3

Comparison of normalized scores obtained from the weighted criteria (A) using equal weights; (B) excluding each of the five criteria.