DRASA ADMIN

DRASA ADMIN

  • Joined: October 16, 2025
  • Articles: 210

Focus on Preventing Infections During Healthcare Delivery

ll across the world, there’s an increasing frequency of patients visiting the hospital for care but getting infected in the process. What is the role of healthworkers practicing infection prevention and control (IPC) in the reduction of such infections?The Nigerian Society for Infection Control (NSIC) hosted their 5th Annual Conference in Lagos from 15th – 16th August to answer that question. NSIC kicked off the conference with a pre-workshop on the 14th of August that showcased the appropriate tools and methods for disinfecting and sterilizing reusable hospital equipment to reduce the transmission of infections between patients and health workers. During the conference, health professionals from all over the country converged to discuss and debate the issue of preventing infections during healthcare through the implementation of infection prevention and control (IPC) programs which are designed to provide practical solutions to prevent harm during the delivery of healthcare to patients. Our conclusion was that sadly most health facilities in Nigeria do not have functional IPC programs. Together, we determined that the main factors contributing to this and driving the country’s poor healthcare delivery and poor patient safety are: As a group, we put forward the following recommendations for the government and facilities across the country: Patients have a right to be treated in a safe and clean environment with consistent standards and quality care. The basic principle of IPC is to establish ongoing processes that provide a safe environment for both health workers and patients. As Professor Akin Osibogun the keynote speaker said, “Whenever you are confronted with a complex situation, always go back to the basics.” And the basics for healthcare workers should always be IPC! Therefore all hands must be on deck to see to the integration of IPC in all health facilities across the country.

How does Climate Change Affect Infectious Diseases?

All across the African continent, there’s an increasing frequency of infectious disease outbreaks like Ebola, Lassa fever, yellow fever, monkeypox, cholera, bird flu, and meningitis. How does climate change play a role? We spent two days this week answering that question. From August 7th – 9th, the Global Emerging Pathogens Treatment (GET) Africa Consortium hosted their 5th Annual Conference on Emerging Infectious Disease and Biosecurity in Abuja. We attended the first 2 days of the 3 day event and our Managing Director Mrs. Niniola Williams presented on the second day. This year’s theme was Climate Change and Conflict: Implications for Emerging Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity in Africa and speakers from all over the continent and other parts of the world converged to discuss and debate the impact of our changing climate on public health. What aspects of climate change affect our health and the spread of infectious diseases? So many! But some of the most notable are: The bottom line is: Africa’s booming population, rapidly expanding megacities like Lagos, and ecosystem pressures are creating the perfect opportunities for climate change to further increase the risk of infectious diseases and biosecurity threats for the continent. As Professor Akin Abayomi (Principal Investigator of GET) said on the first day of the conference, “Africa is a hotbed of infectious diseases.” And as a hotbed, we need to ensure African countries are prepared for the increased threats we will continue to face as a result of climate change. Tim Reeves from the University of Melbourne noted, “Climate change will bring an added degree of difficulty to the already onerous task of biosecurity.” It’s clear we have a lot of work to do so we must keep collaborating to drive the solutions we need.

Meet One of Our DRASA Youth Ambassadors: Fathia Alade

DRASA Youth Ambassador Fathia Motunrayo Alade is 17 years old. She has been part of the DRASA Health and Hygiene Club in her school since 2017 and we wanted to share her story. Check out her interview below. Who is Fathia?I am a young girl who enjoys reading and watching movies. My favorite book is Purple Hibiscus. My favorite drink is Pepsi but I don’t have a favorite food. I like music a lot and my favorite artist is James Arthur. What’s your family like?I have 2 older siblings and 3 younger siblings. I live with my dad and step-mum and they are both traders. My step-mum sells bridal material and my dad sells ankara clothes. My family is okay. It’s a place where you can learn morals and values and be well-rounded and educated on marital and personal issues and how to relate with the whole world. It’s a place where you can always get what you need, what you actually need, in living your life. What was growing up like for you? What did you enjoy about your childhood?My childhood was okay even though I didn’t really stay with my dad because my dad and my biological mum were separated. I got to stay with my mum but she died some years ago – she was very ill – so I had to come and live with my dad. Staying with my mum was different, it was fun because my mum was a very gentle woman; she rarely beat. She wasn’t a wahala woman. So my childhood was filled with lots of experiences and I’m sure one way or the other, those experiences will actually help me. Do you want to share some of those experiences?Yes, maybe as a mother who didn’t want us to feel any suffering, I was used to having […]

ECOWAS Honors Dr. Ameyo Stella Adadevoh

On Saturday 29th June, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) awarded Dr. Ameyo Stella Adadevoh a posthumous Award of Excellence. Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari, chair of ECOWAS, presented Bankole Cardoso (the only child of Dr. Adadevoh) and our Managing Director Niniola Soleye with the Award. The other two Awardees were Kofi Annan, former Secretary-General of the United Nations (posthumous) and Madam Germaine Acogny, a world-renowned Senegalese dancer and choreographer. We are very grateful that West Africa has formally recognized Dr. Adadevoh’s sacrifice and through our work we will continue to push to ensure the devastation of the 2014 Ebola outbreak never happens again.

Indaba on Nigeria’s Infectious Diseases and Resistant Organisms

What happens when the germs around us become stronger than the drugs and therapies we have to treat them? Does this sound far fetched? It’s not. Antibiotics fight bacteria but did you know that scientists have not developed a new type of antibiotic since 1987? Over the years, the bacteria all around us have evolved and gotten used to the antibiotics we have, becoming resistant to treatment. This is called antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and it’s a big, global problem. “AMR today is where HIV/AIDS was in the early 1980s. Countries were in denial and wished it would never affect them. But it was already there.”– Dr. Lawal Bakare, CEO EpidAlert during the Infectious Diseases Indaba Event Indaba? What does that even mean? Those were our thoughts before we attended the “Infectious Diseases Indaba” event organized by EpidAlert. The purpose of the discussion was to help stimulate conversations on best practices, spark innovation, and think through strategies to address the growing infectious disease burden. AMR and infectious diseases are indeed our “indaba” – a South African word for “one’s own problem or concern.” But just as it is our problem, we also have the solutions at hand. Why should we be concerned about AMR?If scientists knew that in an attempt to develop products to fight microorganisms, antimicrobials would end up being one of the leading causes of death, perhaps they would have explored more alternatives like probiotics or vaccines. Instead, by 1988, various bacteria including Enterococcus faecalis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Pseudomonas aureginos were already resistant to more than 100 antibiotics. But this resistance issue doesn’t just apply to bacteria and antibiotics. Even the HIV virus has developed resistance to some antiviral drugs used to treat it. The parasite that causes malaria has also developed resistance to some antimalarial drugs which is why sometimes people suffer […]

DRASA Goes to a Smithsonian Museum

The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC – one of the most-visited natural history museums in the world – has a new exhibition on one of our favorite topics: outbreaks! And this month, we got a chance to check it out. The exhibition, called Outbreak: Epidemics in a Connected World, shows how viruses spread from animals to people, why some outbreaks become epidemics, and how people in different countries are working together to stop them. But it’s not just a normal museum exhibition! It’s packed with interactive games that challenge visitors to see if they can help identify or contain an outbreak, infectious disease case studies, and personal stories from epidemic-fighters around the world. We really had a good time and enjoyed seeing other museum visitors interacting with the information and games. Why the Focus on Outbreaks? 2018 was the 100 year anniversary of one of the worst pandemics ever – the Great Influenza – which took the lives of 50 to 100 million people (3 – 5 % of the world’s population at that time). So the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History chose to mark that important anniversary with this new exhibition. Sabrina Sholts, lead curator of the exhibition said, “We see this as an extraordinary opportunity to raise awareness about pandemic risks and keep everyone safer in our connected world. Visitors get a clear understanding of how we can prevent viruses like Ebola, Zika, and influenza from emerging and spreading around the world.” Take it from us, the Outbreak exhibition at this Smithsonian museum is a really fun way to understand the public health threats people around the world are facing and how we can prevent them. So if you have a chance to visit Washington DC, check it out! It will be on display in the Smithsonian National […]