The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) on Tuesday in Abuja signed a-four-year memorandum of understanding (MoU) on data sharing and information exchange.
According to a statement from both agencies, the primary goal is to create a structured framework for data sharing and collaboration that supports Enhanced Situational Awareness (ESA), particularly for climate-sensitive diseases like cholera and malaria.
The partnership will also help correlate climate patterns with disease outbreaks, enabling better predictive models and risk assessments.
The Director General and Chief Executive Officer of NiMet, Prof. Charles Anosike said that the signing of the MoU was a significant achievement for both agencies because the changing weather patterns is continuously posing threats and severe challenges on health and well-being.
He said: “Climate change is the most impactful threat to our health. This partnership with NCDC will ensure that we improve our systems to go beyond what we are doing currently.
“It is a really important partnership for us to enhance preparedness and response to climate disasters. These are critical components of the early warning system, which is an initiative of the United Nations. It is important that we all make that investment so that we can protect all our citizens from climate disaster,” he said.
In his remarks, the Director General of NCDC, Dr. Jide Idris said that the collaboration with NiMet marks the beginning of the sharing of data, expertise, and resources that will help NCDC to monitor climatic and disease issues.
According to him, This will help NCDC to improve our ability to prevent and respond to public health threats in Nigeria.