Conference Abstract | Volume 8, Abstract ELIC2025159 (Oral 069) | Published: 14 Aug 2025
Yetunde Abioye1,&, Aperki Kono Yahaya1, Hadiza Temitope Ahmed1, Rabi Usman2, Sandra Mba1, Jenom Sunday Danjuma2, Anietie Emmanuel Akpan1, Mie Okamura3, Rejoice Kudirat Luka-Lawal1, Nasir Ahmed1, Olubunmi Olopha1, Nsikan Primus Okon1, Anwar Abubakar1, Paul Majam Labaran1, Ali Wada Aliyu1, Jerry Pantuvo4, Nanlop Ogbureke2, Joseph Gbenga1, Fatima Saleh1, Olajide Idris1
1Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Abuja, Nigeria, 2Resolve to Save Lives, Alexandria, Virginia, USA, 3World Health Organization, Abuja, Nigeria, 4United Kingdom Health Security Agency, Abuja, Nigeria
&Corresponding author: Dr Yetunde Abioye, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, 801 Ebitu Ukiwe Street, Jabi, Abuja, Nigeria. Email: yetunde.abioye@ncdc.gov.ng
Received: 20 May 2025, Accepted: 09 Jul 2025, Published: 14 Aug 2025
Domain: Infectious Disease Epidemiology
Keywords: Lassa Fever, 7-1-7 Framework, Timeliness, Response, Action Review
©Yetunde Abioye et al. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health (ISSN: 2664-2824). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Cite this article: Yetunde Abioye et al., Early action review of Lassa Fever outbreaks in Nigeria: Utilizing the 7-1-7 framework as a performance improvement metric. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health. 2025;8(ConfProc5):00069. https://doi.org/10.37432/JIEPH-CONFPRO5-00069
Lassa fever, an acute viral haemorrhagic fever, is endemic in Nigeria. Cases are recorded all year round, especially in high-burden areas. Annually, the impact of the disease is increasing to non-endemic areas, and the case fatality rate has remained under 20%. Hence, the need to evaluate the timeliness of critical actions for outbreak control and response.
In 2025, the Nigeria CDC deployed 10 multisectoral National Rapid Response Teams (NRRTs) to 10 States using a One Health approach. These teams evaluated outbreak containment efforts, with the 7-1-7 timeliness assessment tools and template. States were debriefed on milestone dates, bottlenecks, and remedial actions for immediate implementation. Additionally, teams presented on specific areas during the national debrief to address issues beyond subnational levels.
50% of states met the 7-day target for detection, 100% achieved the 1-day target for notification, and 50% met the 7-day target for early effective response. However, only 20% of the 10 states met all targets: a reduction in improvement from a retrospective analysis of Lassa fever outbreaks in six states (50%) and nine states (33%) in 2023 and 2024 respectively. Identified detection bottlenecks included poor health-seeking behaviour; late presentation in treatment centres; and low clinical suspicion among healthcare workers. Whereas, identified response bottlenecks included lack of funding for preparedness and response, and state reliance on NRRTs/partners’ support to initiate critical early response actions.
The 7-1-7 Framework is a valuable tool in assessing and improving outbreak response performance and enabling containment at source. However, the decline to just 20% of states meeting the targets highlight gaps in training/adoption, particularly at the subnational level. Strengthening adherence to the 7-1-7 framework will require increased domestic funding, continuous training and mentorship, routine monitoring of early response actions within existing workflows.
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