Research as a pillar of Lassa fever emergency response: lessons from Nigeria

Abstract

Emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases are becoming more frequent and developing countries are especially at increased risk. A recurring infectious disease outbreak in Nigeria has been that of Lassa fever (LF), a disease that is endemic in Nigeria and other West African countries. Nigeria, between 1st January and 27th October 2019, reported 743 confirmed cases of LF and 157 deaths in confirmed cases. Lassa fever outbreaks continue to be recurrent after fifty years of its identification and the true burden of the disease in Nigeria is unknown and many gaps in knowledge about the infection still persist. Based on the World Health Organisation´s roadmap initiative for accelerating research and product development to enable effective and timely emergency response to LF disease epidemics among other infectious diseases and the Nigeria national Lassa fever research agenda; a research pillar was added to the seven existing LF emergency operations centre response pillars in 2019. We describe lessons learnt from the integration of a research pillar into the LF national emergency response.

Keywords

• lassa fever
• infectious disease outbreaks
• operational research
• health emergencies