NCDC approves N100,000 weekly stipend for Ebola Contacts

… Emergency support to cover feeding, accommodation, family upkeep By Chioma Obinna & Chidinma Chukwu The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, NCDC, yesterday announced the approval of an emergency payment of N100,000 per person weekly for individuals placed in isolation or quarantine as part of efforts to contain the Ebola outbreak in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT. The Director-General of the NCDC, Dr Jide Idris, disclosed this at a press briefing in Abuja on Sunday, explaining that the financial intervention was introduced after some contacts raised concerns about the cost of feeding, accommodation and maintaining their families while undergoing mandatory public health monitoring. Idris said the measure was intended to ease the financial burden on individuals identified as contacts of the confirmed Ebola patient and ensure their cooperation with public health authorities.

“We are paying for their accommodation; we are paying for their feeding. Some of them are asking for a stipend to maintain their families,” he said. He added: “We are providing N100,000 per person per week just to maintain their comfort and feeding, because they were complaining.” The NCDC chief described the payment as an emergency intervention that was not part of the agency’s original response plan but had become necessary under the prevailing circumstances.

“This was not planned for, but it is an emergency. We will continue to review it as we go along,” he said. Idris warned that the responsibility for financing emergency public health interventions should not rest solely on the FCT, stressing that state governments must make adequate financial and logistical provisions to respond to similar outbreaks.

“This is not the responsibility of the FCT alone. What we have to do for the FCT, we have to do for any other state, just in case,” he said. According to him, state authorities must be prepared to provide the resources, personnel and materials required for contact tracing, isolation and other emergency response activities within their jurisdictions.

The warning comes as health authorities intensify surveillance and containment measures following the confirmation of an imported Ebola case in Abuja on October 20. Nigeria had recorded one confirmed case as of the briefing, with 53 primary contacts identified for monitoring, according to Idris.