Lassa fever response gaps
Nigeria’s fight against Lassa fever is being slowed by high specimen transport costs, inconsistent reporting, and weak data validation systems, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has said, warning that these gaps are delaying early detection and coordinated response in some states. 
In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Abuja, NCDC Director-General Dr Jide Idris said moving samples from remote communities to state laboratories remains expensive and logistically difficult, especially in hard-to-reach areas where poor access roads, long travel time, and rising fuel costs stretch response timelines. 
The DG said the consequence is simple but dangerous: when samples arrive late, testing and confirmation are delayed, and contact tracing and treatment start late too. That delay, he explained, can worsen outcomes in outbreaks like Lassa fever, where time-to-diagnosis and time-to-care matter.
Specimen transport costs and the “last-mile” problem
According to Idris, the weakest link is often the “last mile” between communities and the nearest functional sample collection point or hospital. He said getting specimens from local areas to state hospitals is costly, and fuel and transportation challenges affect turnaround time. 
While the NCDC said the expansion of zonal laboratories has helped to improve testing turnaround compared to previous years, Idris noted that performance still varies widely across states, with some responding faster than others. 
That uneven performance, public health officials say, can create a dangerous gap where outbreaks spread quietly in places that are slow to detect and report.
NCDC’s response benchmark: the 7-1-7 target
Idris said the agency monitors outbreak performance with the 7-1-7 surveillance benchmark: detect suspected cases within seven days, report within one day, and initiate response within seven days. 
He added that beyond case confirmation, the agency tracks whether states report within 24 hours and respond within 48 hours, noting that response speed depends heavily on state-level execution even when national coordination exists. 
That point matters. NCDC coordinates nationally through its Incident Management System (IMS), but the DG stressed that outbreak control ultimately depends on how well states execute key steps: prompt reporting, rapid investigation, contact tracing, and infection prevention control.
https://ogelenews.ng/lassa-fever-response-gaps
Where the outbreak stands and why NCDC is worried
The warning comes amid renewed concern about the severity of the current outbreak. At a recent NCDC briefing in Abuja, Idris said Nigeria had recorded 318 confirmed cases and 70 deaths, putting the case fatality rate at 22%, with infections concentrated in a small number of states and local government areas. 
He noted that five states account for 91% of confirmed cases, while just 10 LGAs account for 68%, a pattern that suggests intense hotspots where response speed can determine whether numbers rise or fall. 
The NCDC also disclosed that 15 healthcare workers had been infected in the outbreak, a worrying signal about gaps in infection prevention and control in some facilities. 
This is where Lassa fever response gaps become more than policy talk. When data reporting is weak, it becomes harder to identify hotspots early. When specimen transport is slow, confirmation delays grow. And when infection prevention and control is inconsistent, health workers and patients face higher risk.
What NCDC says is still going wrong in states
In the same briefing, Idris listed recurring problems affecting outbreak response. These include weak state ownership, gaps in contact tracing, limited funding for awareness campaigns, poor data reporting mechanisms, and inconsistent enforcement of infection prevention and control measures in some health facilities. 
He also raised concerns that some treatment centres were operating below standard, including incidents of patients absconding and disruptions to safe burial protocols, reportedly tied to resource constraints. 
Those are the kinds of Lassa fever response gaps that can quietly undo progress: poor tracing means missed chains of transmission; weak reporting makes trends look better than they are; and weak IPC exposes more people in hospitals.
What NCDC says it is doing
The NCDC says it has activated its IMS to coordinate the national response and holds weekly National Lassa Fever Emergency Operations Centre meetings to guide interventions in states. 
Idris also said national rapid response teams had been deployed to multiple states, while laboratory testing commodities and medical countermeasures, including PPE and treatment supplies, were being distributed to treatment centres. 
On healthcare worker infections, he said investigations in recent years linked many infections to poor IPC practices, low index of suspicion in high-burden areas, and delayed care-seeking due to fear of stigma, adding that letters and advisories had been issued to strengthen compliance. 
The deeper issue: why data matters as much as drugs
Public health experts often say you cannot fight what you cannot see. The NCDC’s warning is essentially that Lassa fever response gaps are being fueled by missing or unreliable data. If the data is late, incomplete, or inconsistent, it becomes harder to deploy teams, allocate supplies, and track whether interventions are working.
That is why the agency keeps returning to a few core themes: reporting within 24 hours, response within 48 hours, and strengthening state-level surveillance systems. 
For Nigerians, the practical meaning is this: the outbreak is not only a medical challenge. It is also a logistics and governance challenge. And until those Lassa fever response gaps are closed, outbreaks will keep exploiting the weak points.
https://punchng.com/transport-costs-data-gaps-hindering-lassa-fever-response-ncdc
