An overview of the Draft Public Health Legislation for Jigawa, one of the 36 states in Nigeria

1. Overview of the Draft
Jigawa State Public
Health Security Bill 2002
Legal Advisor

2. The States in Nigeria have a moral and political
mandate to protect their populations from
threats to health. One of the essential tools
which assist states in this task is public health
law.
By Public Health law, we mean any statute,
rule, or ordinance that has the purpose of
promoting or protecting public health. Public
health laws aim to fulfil society’s interest in
assuring conditions for people to be healthy.
INTRODUCTION

3. EFFECT OF THE
PANDEMIC ON
THE PUBLIC
HEALTH LEGAL
FRAMEWORK
The COVID-19 pandemic
highlighted the
inadequacies of the laws in
Nigeria (both at the Federal
and State level) that arose
during the country’s
response to the public
health emergency to
include, but not limited to:
1. Inadequate public health emergency legal
procedures to trigger the operationalisation
of public health measures;
2. Absent or inadequate legal provisions to
back the implementation and enforcement
of public health measures, including
quarantine and isolation; and
3. Inadequate and ineffective collaboration
and coordination mechanisms amongst
critical public health stakeholders and
institutions, particularly in detection and
response to public health risks/events.

4. PUBLIC HEALTH
REFORMS
The inadequacies
mentioned above have
necessitated a push to
reform the public health
laws in Nigeria to enable
them to meet up to
international standards and
provide comprehensive
protection to the citizens.

5. • In December 2021, NCDC, with
support of Lafiya-Nigeria and
RTSL supported the legal
assessment of public health laws
of the State to identify the
strengths and gaps of the legal
framework for health security in
the State and also chart a path
for reform of the laws to ensure
that they comply with the IHR
2005 and modern health security
practices.
• The IHR 2005 is an international
treaty between 196 countries requiring
all the Member States of the World
Health Organization (WHO) to work
together for global health security.
Through IHR, countries have agreed to
build their capacities to detect, assess
and report public health events.
• The goal of the International Health
Regulations 2005 is to protect against the
international spread of epidemics and
other public health emergencies without
unnecessary interference with
international travel and trade. The
regulations provide new guidance to
countries on several mechanisms to
achieve this objective.
Assessment Jigawa State Public Health Laws and IHR
Obligation

6. LIST OF PUBLIC
HEALTH LAWS
REVIEWED
• Primary Healthcare Law
2012
• Public Health Law 2012
• Animal Diseases Law 2012
• Control of Animal Law 2012
• Some Domestic Animal
Prohibition Law 2012
• Free and Compulsory
Immunization Law 2012
• Meat Law 2012
• Slaughter Stock Law 2012
• Yellow Fever and Infectious
Disease Law 2012
• Consumer Protection Law
2012
• State Emergency
Management Agency Law
2012
• State Agency for Control of
AIDS 2012
• Fishery Law 2012
• Jigawa Agriculture and Rural
Development Agency Law
2012
• Jigawa Contributory Health
Care Management Law 2019
• Compulsory Testing Law
• Jigawa State Environmental
Protection Board 2012
• HIV/AIDs Law 2016

7. SOME OF THE ISSUES IDENTIFIED IN THE
ASSESSMENT
1. Ensuring that Technical Terms and Words used in the Laws in Jigawa State are Consistent with IHR
2. The Public Health Law does not make provisions for surveillance activities at the State or
intermediate level.
3. The Laws do not provide for the transmission of notification of public health event to the
Commissioner for Health/intermediate level from the community/local level.
4. There is no provision for specific information that must be provided when reporting an outbreak of
diseases. This may pose the risk of sharing information that may not be useful in effectively
preventing the spread of infectious diseases
5. The Law was silent on collaboration between authorities across the different sectors (environment,
animal and agriculture) designated to carry out surveillance activities

8. 1. Provide for specific definition of key
words under the outlined laws of the
state – Infectious diseases,
Immunization, Vaccination,
Nuisance, etc.
2. Domestication of IDSR guideline in
the state laws
3. Provide requirements to regulate
public health laboratories services in
the state
4. Provide for mandatory training of
public health officers under the law
5. Provide for a robust and
comprehensive public health
surveillance system which
incorporates as well as coordinates
human, animal and environment
surveillance
6. Enact a law to provide for the
procedure for handling and
managing public health emergencies
7. Provide requirements under public
health law for point of entries into
the State
8. Provide for public health emergency
funding
9. Provide under the relevant Laws for
designated centers for vaccination
10. Provide for the statutory
establishment of the State’s Public
Health Emergency Operations
Centre and adequate funding for the
Centre
11. Enact a Law or regulation for Privacy
and Data Protection
SUMMARY OF
RECOMMENDATIONS

9. THE BILL IS DIVIDED
INTO
• 20 PARTS
• 168 SECTIONS
COMPONENTS OF THE PROPOSED JIGAWA STATE
PUBLIC HEALTH SECURITY BILL

10. COMPONENTS OF THE PROPOSED JIGAWA STATE
PUBLIC HEALTH SECURITY BILL
PART I
OBJECTIVES
PART VI
INVESTIGATION OF REPORTED
PUBLIC HEALTH EVENTS
PART XI
VACCINATION AND OTHER
PROPHYLAXIS
PART XVI
RIGHTS OF PERSONS
PART II
PUBLIC HEALTH
LABORATOTIES
PART VII
PUBIC HEALTH EMERGENCY
PART XII
NUISANCE AND
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
PART XVII
ENFORCEMENT
PART III
ESTABLISHMENT OF SPECIAL
HEALTH COMMITTEES
PART VIII
RESPONSE TO PUBLIC HEALTH
EVENTS AND HEALTH
MEASURES
PART XIII
NON-COMMUNICABLE
DISEASES
PART XVIII
OFFENCES AND PENALTIES
PART IV
PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY
PART IX
PUBLIC HEALTH SECURITY
FINANCING
PART XIV
RISK COMMUNICATION
PART XIX
LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
PART V
DETECTING AND REPORTING
CASES OF NOTIFIABLE
DISEASES, CONDITIONS AND
EVENTS
PART X
INFECTION PREVENTION AND
CONTROL
PART XV
TRAINING, SUPERVISION,
MONITORING AND
EVALUATION
PART XX
FINAL PROVISIONS

11. The Jigawa State Public Health Security Bill 2022 seeks to
provide legal guidance to the following key issues:

12. 1. Address complete life cycle of
emergencies
The legal framework should operate before,
during and after an emergency to prevent,
detect, respond and recover.
The law should allow public health activities to
adapt and adjust to the levels or phases of the
emergency, and ensure a formal review of
lessons learned.

13. 2. Define the triggering events
The law should address a range of events that can trigger a public
health emergency.
That is, the list of diseases, conditions or events must be broader than
just infectious diseases, and include chemical or radiation leaks,
foodborne illnesses and famine, among others.

14. 3. Balance strong and agile decision-
making with meaningful oversight
Emergency response requires clear and quick action by competent
public health authorities without unnecessary bureaucracy.
There should also be clear criteria on who can declare a public
health emergency, under what conditions, and how long the
temporary emergency measures can remain in effect

15. 4. Fund adequately
Government budget allocations should cover the normal operating
expenses for the agencies, institutions and officials responsible for
emergency response at the national and subnational levels.
Additional emergency funding sources and expedited disbursement
mechanisms should be established for extreme or unanticipated
events

16. 5. Equip authorities with all relevant
public health tools
Health institutions and facilities should be given the appropriate
tools and equipment to handle public health issues. Where this is
absent, there are greater chances of a public health event becoming
a pandemic!

17. 6. Fulfil IHR obligations
Any law must satisfy a country’s obligations under the International
Health Regulations (2005)
This includes developing core capacities of IHR such as areas of
immunization, food and water safety, animal disease surveillance
and management etc.

18. 7. Protect human rights
Especially during an emergency, the government must respect the rights
of the people.
When necessary restrictions are imposed, the government should sustain
basic necessities, such as food, water, shelter and medical care.
Laws should be implemented without discrimination.

19. 8. Integrate functioning health strategies
In this modern era of managing public health events, it is imperative
that all public health laws should also support multi-sectoral and
multi-agency coordination
This means that the law should integrate One Health and Integrated
Disease Surveillance and Response strategies

20. 9. Ensure flow of health data across all
levels of governance
Public health authorities need timely and accurate data to allow
real-time, operational decision-making.
Any law should regulate the access to health data and information
among patients, laboratories, providers, different health and other
government agencies across various tiers of government,
international partners, and the public.

21. 10. Safeguard health care workers
Any public health law should empower the health agencies to
provide protections for health care workers, volunteers and other
essential workers both during the ordinary course of work or during
the emergencies.

22. 11. Enforce the rules without imposing
unjust penalties
Unlike other categories of law, public health laws should not be too
strict on violators but should seek to encourage voluntary
compliance with the law

23. 12. Promote transparency
Governments should prioritize consistent and continuous
dissemination of factual information to the public through risk
communication
All public health laws should obligate the utmost transparency to
the public throughout the emergency on the risks, response and
requirements.

24. Final Words
Therefore, every State public health legal frameworks should
provide for:
1. Routine matters such as surveillance
2. Funding
3. Reporting
4. One health issues - Animal disease management
5. Relationship with Federal authorities – the NCDC
6. Legal foundation for the IDSR
7. Immunisation

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