The Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria, ACPN, has called on the Federal Government to urgently adopt a nationwide ‘Pharmacy First’ protocol that will position community pharmacies as frontline centres for the early identification of suspected Ebola cases and other infectious disease outbreaks.
The association said Nigeria can strengthen its epidemic preparedness by formally integrating community pharmacists into the national disease surveillance system, leveraging their widespread presence and daily contact with the public to improve early detection, facilitate timely referrals and reduce pressure on secondary and tertiary healthcare facilities.
In a position statement issued after a press conference and signed by its National Chairman, Pharm. Ezeh Ambrose, the ACPN urged federal and state health authorities to formally recognise community pharmacies as critical partners in epidemic surveillance and primary healthcare delivery.
The association maintained that deploying the proposed protocol across Nigeria’s 774 local government areas would bring early symptom identification closer to the people, particularly in communities where access to conventional healthcare facilities may be limited. According to the ACPN, the initiative would expand community pharmacy practice beyond the dispensing of medicines to include early symptom recognition, health education, basic screening and prompt referral of individuals presenting with symptoms suggestive of Ebola or other infectious diseases.
“We consider it necessary to sensitise and mobilise the Federal Government to approve specific investment plans to leverage the Pharmacy First Initiative as a front-line Ebola detection protocol, which stands as one of the best mechanisms to catalyse Universal Health Coverage in Nigeria,” the statement read.
The ACPN explained that properly structured community pharmacies could serve as accessible first-contact points, helping to identify suspected cases early and directing them to designated health facilities for appropriate assessment and testing. It added that the approach could strengthen referral pathways, support contact-tracing efforts and ensure that individuals suspected of having highly infectious diseases receive timely guidance on isolation, thereby reducing the risk of exposure in crowded hospital settings.
“At the centre of strategising for epidemic response and Universal Health Coverage, governments at all levels must structure community pharmacies to provide first-line Ebola screening and Primary Health Care services through better access to essential drugs and management of uncomplicated diseases, which ultimately reduces the burden of services on secondary and tertiary health facilities,” the association stated.
To meet these expanding public health responsibilities, the ACPN urged community pharmacists nationwide to improve operational standards, embrace modern practice models and invest in facility upgrades that would support quality service delivery. The association, however, identified persistent gaps in policy leadership, digital integration, evidence generation, quality improvement and collaboration among healthcare professionals as major obstacles to Nigeria’s epidemic preparedness.
It proposed a reform framework built around five key priorities including establishing a unified vision for epidemic preparedness, improving clinical quality and public trust, integrating digital technology and data-driven surveillance into routine pharmacy practice, strengthening collaboration with primary healthcare centres, and building effective partnerships with health insurance providers. The ACPN further called for standardised reporting systems that would enable community pharmacies to transmit relevant surveillance data to national health databases.
The call is coming against the background of a fresh and concerning Ebola outbreak that has now reached Nigeria. On October 21, 2026, the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed Nigeria’s first Ebola case in over a decade in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The patient is a woman with recent travel history to Uganda who arrived in Abuja via Addis Ababa on October 3, began showing symptoms on October 7, and sought care at a private hospital in Abuja on October 11 with malaria-like symptoms before being tested for Ebola on October 19 and confirmed positive for the Bundibugyo strain on October 20.
Health Minister Muhammad Ali Pate said the woman is in isolation and receiving treatment, while 44 contacts, mostly healthcare workers and including her husband, have been identified and are being monitored. The case is part of a wider, fast-spreading outbreak of the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola that was first declared in the Democratic Republic of Congo in May 2026 and has killed more than 4,600 people with over 9,500 cases recorded, spreading to Uganda, Kenya and now Nigeria. The World Health Organization has warned that Africa is facing a more complex outbreak landscape as the virus has now affected four countries across three regions, and has no approved vaccine or treatment.
It was this late detection, 13 days after falling ill, that the ACPN says validates its demand for grassroots screening. Pharm. Ezeh warned that delays in establishing an effective grassroots surveillance mechanism could undermine outbreak response and expose healthcare workers and the wider population to avoidable risks.
“We cannot afford to repeat past missteps where delayed grassroots surveillance allowed outbreaks to spiral out of control. If the Federal Government fails to integrate community pharmacies into this primary protocol, our major hospitals will inevitably become ground zero for cross-infection, overwhelmed before an outbreak is even fully mapped. Leaving community pharmacies out of the first line of defence is not just a missed opportunity; it is an unacceptable hazard to national health security,” he said.
He subsequently called on President Bola Tinubu to issue an executive directive for immediate implementation, arguing that community pharmacies require zero infrastructure expenditure from government and can activate within 48 hours.
“Every day of delay places an unnecessary burden on our tertiary hospitals and leaves millions of Nigerians without accessible early detection. Community pharmacies are already fully staffed, equipped, and embedded across all 774 Local Government Areas. We urge President Bola Tinubu to issue the enabling policy directive today, and our national network will activate the ‘Pharmacy First’ screening protocol within 48 hours,” Pharm. Ezeh declared.
The association concluded by urging the Tinubu administration and the Federal Ministry of Health to establish a joint task force to develop and formalise the framework, including clear clinical guidelines, referral procedures, surveillance protocols and coordination mechanisms for community pharmacists.
