The Nigerian government has initiated the second evaluation of the nation’s health security potential using the Joint External Evaluation (JEE) for the core competencies of the International Health Regulations (IHR).
Nigeria becomes the third country globally and the second in Africa to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of its health security readiness.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has announced that the evaluation will focus on the core capacities required by the IHR and will take place from August 14 to 18, 2023.
Dr Ifedayo Adetifa, Director General of the NCDC, highlighted that Nigeria’s decision to conduct a second round of JEE demonstrates the nation’s commitment to strengthening its health security capabilities. This evaluation uses the JEE 3.0 tools, marking a significant step in the country’s preparedness and response efforts.
The JEE is a collaborative multi-sectoral process and is one of the components of the IHR monitoring and evaluation framework. It involves a team of experts assessing a nation’s readiness and response capacities across 19 technical areas in collaboration with relevant Ministries, Departments, and Agencies.
Adetifa emphasized that this approach underscores the importance of a holistic, multi-sectoral, and all-of-government strategy in ensuring national health security.
Nigeria’s initial JEE was conducted in 2017 using the JEE 1.0 tool, which indicated a readiness score of 39 percent. Subsequently, the National Action Plan for Health Security (NAPHS) for 2018-2023 was formulated to address the gaps and recommendations identified in the 2017 evaluation.
Building on the progress made through the implementation of the 2018-2023 NAPHS, the 2023 JEE aims to comprehensively assess Nigeria’s current health security status. It will highlight advancements, identify ongoing challenges, and explore new opportunities. The findings will contribute to the formulation of the 2023-2028 NAPHS, ensuring targeted actions and interventions for the next five years.
A team of experts and partners will conduct the external evaluation, validating the scores derived from the internal assessment. This phase includes a comprehensive review of presentations, documents, policies, and systems across the 19 technical areas. Site visits to national public health centers and institutes will also be conducted.
After the assessment of each technical area and validation, the aggregated scores will determine Nigeria’s 2023 JEE score, reflecting the nation’s progress in detecting, assessing, reporting, and responding to public health events.
