Nigeria Senate Calls for Ebola Screening After Imported Case

Nigeria’s Senate has called for compulsory health screening of all international arrivals and emergency funding after the federal government confirmed the country’s first imported Ebola case, a woman who travelled from Uganda and is being treated in isolation in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The Senate adopted resolutions on October 21 urging screening at international airports, seaports and designated land borders, along with emergency funding to strengthen disease surveillance and response. It also called for replacing the Quarantine Act of 1926 with a modern public health law. The measures are recommendations and calls for action; the reports do not establish that they have been implemented. The proposed screening includes health declaration forms, temperature checks and symptom assessments for all arriving international passengers, with enhanced screening for people who visited or transited through affected areas in the previous 21 days. The Senate also urged authorities to equip entry points with trained Port Health officers, scanners, protective equipment and isolation facilities, and to prepare treatment centres across the states and FCT. The federal government...