We arrive at our field site: the compound of one of the biggest abattoirs in the country, including a live animal market and a meat and grocery market. The air is thick with dust, and the whole place is busy and vibrant already. Most people are awake since 5am, time…
Since 2019, the Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital (ISTH) in Irrua, Edo State, Nigeria, gained knowledge in the field of Lassa virus sequencing as part of this GHPP program but was yet new to the field of SARS-CoV-2 sequencing. To strengthen this capacity, we decided to build upon…
As I approached the aircraft door, I was embraced by a different type of cold weather, quite more extreme than what I had prepared for. I quickly adjusted myself, stepped down and made way hurriedly towards the arrivals. At this point, my Nigerian jacket was already beginning to fail me.
The COVID-19 pandemic has put health systems under considerable stress. Health care workers (HCW) are a critical part of the health system´s pandemic response and have been challenged both by high workload and high risk of exposure. The BCHW project addresses these challenges: in a multisite international study between…
We stay where the animals stay, we eat where the animals eat, we drink the same water as the animals. Our interlocutor tells us this while sitting on a wooden bench in the middle of the open cattle stables surrounded by his own animals and the ones from others. It…
Following the request of the Beninese Ministry of Health, Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine (BNITM) staff deployed to Benin on 6 – 12 June 2022 to assist with the establishment of Mpox diagnostics at the national laboratory for viral hemorrhagic fevers in Cotonou (LFH). In addition…
To support the Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital (ISTH) with the establishment of Mpox virus diagnostics, and to increase the diagnostic capacities of the Institute for Lassa Fever Research and Control (ILFRC), a team from Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine (BNITM) trained ILFRC staff…
The COVID-19 pandemic poses an unprecedented challenge to healthcare systems worldwide. A cornerstone of successful containment is rapid and reliable diagnostics. The intensified molecular surveillance of hepatitis and rotavirus infections with a network of sentinel sites distributed across Nigeria can serve as the basis for a rapidly available, functioning surveillance system…
The NiCaDe project supports the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in capacity building to prevent and manage infectious diseases and outbreaks. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak response measures such as restrictions on national and international travel, many of the originally planned project activities, e.g. on-site trainings and workshops, could…