Nigeria Graduates Its First LFCMF Cohort

Nigeria’s first cohort of the Lassa Fever Clinical Management Fellows (LFCMF) has just graduated from the Irrua Specialist Hospital in Edo State.

A statement Tuesday by the U.S. embassy in Abuja said this was made possible by the collaboration between the U.S. Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Federal Ministry of Health, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Georgetown University, the Institute of Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers and Emergent Pathogens of Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, and Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital Abakaliki.

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The fellowship aims to build and strengthen capacity for the clinical management of Lassa fever with emphasis on general management, neurology, pediatrics, obstetrics, gynecology and nephrology.

It also protects workers by helping to reduce health facility transmission and the spread of Lassa fever among health workers.

Although the first LFCMF cohort comprises doctors, plans have been made to expand future cohorts to include nurses, laboratory scientists, hygienists and other public health professionals.