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PERSPEKTIF
Available online http://ojs.uma.ac.id/index.php/perspektif
Investigating The Relationship Between Health Diplomacy and Covid-19 Pandemic Containment in Nigeria
Ugochukwu David Abasilim* & Esther Oiza Moses2)
1) Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Political and Governance Policy Department Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria
&
Department of Political Science and International Relations Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria
2) Department of Political Science and International Relations Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria
Received: 1 May 2023; Reviewed: 18 June 2023; Accepted: 24 June 2023
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between health diplomacy and COVID-19 containment in Nigeria. The study used a qualitative method which relied on interviews with employees from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), which aims to detect and respond to infectious disease outbreaks among other things. Thematic analysis and discussion were conducted on the data obtained from the interviews. The study discovered a link between Health Diplomacy and the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that the NCDC and the Nigerian government should maintain their friendship with the foreign partners who have assisted Nigeria in containing the COVID-19 pandemic. This could be accomplished through regular meetings, conferences, and other means of communication, keeping in mind that these partners will not be available all of the time to assist Nigerians in the event of another pandemic in the future.
Keywords: COVID-19, diplomacy, health, Nigeria, pandemic.
How to Cite: Abasilim, U.D. & Moses, E.O. (2023). Investigating The Relationship Between Health Diplomacy and Covid-19 Pandemic Containment in Nigeria. PERSPEKTIF, 12 (3): 875-884
*Corresponding author:
E-mail:
ugochukwu.abasilim@covenantuniversity.edu.ng
ISSN 2549-1660 (Print) ISSN 2550-1305 (Online)
INTRODUCTION
Well-being and good health, among other things, are essential components of human existence. This is because man is expected to live a healthy life free of illnesses and diseases like the COVID-19 pandemic. On January 7, 2020, the first case of the virus was confirmed in China and the virus was said to have originated from a popular seafood market in Wuhan, China, which according to the victims, they have either visited or worked at. This deadly disease is characterized by fever, coughing, and shortness of breath (Chauhan, Jaggi & Yallapu, 2021). The World Health Organization (WHO) deemed the outbreak a pandemic on March 11, 2020 (Dhama, Patel, Sharun, Pathak, Tiwari, Yatoo, & Rodriguez, 2020). Before it reached human-to-human transmission, it was initially believed that the virus was transmitted from animal to human (Guo, Cao, Hong, Tan, Chen, Jin, and Yan, 2020).
On February 27, 2020, a Lagos-based Italian male who tested positive for COVID-19 was verified to be the country's first case (Omaka-Amari, Aleke, Obande, Ngwakwe, Nwankwo and Afoke, 2020). On March 9, 2020, the second case was found in Ogun State. The one that chatted with the Italian was this one (Falaye, 2020). The number of fatalities increased as the virus quickly moved throughout states, especially in states with dense populations like Lagos and Kano. The pandemic's dramatic rise prompted the Nigerian government to consider measures to halt the virus's spread. Due to the government's entire lockdown policy, business hubs, schools, gatherings, and meetings were all immediately forbidden, as well as travel. Later, to help prevent the COVID-19 pandemic from spreading, health professionals implemented additional precautions such as hand washing, sanitizing hands and surfaces, wearing a mask, and many others (Ogunode, Irioegbu & Abashi, 2020).
The COVID-19 pandemic's unexpected spread necessitates global health diplomacy to contain the virus. Despite previous research indicating a link between health diplomacy and the COVID-19 pandemic (Omkolthoum, 2020;
Caballero, 2020; Brown & Ladwig, 2020).
Health diplomacy focuses on global interaction between countries with the sole goal of promoting global health that benefits the entire world. Despite this, there appears to be little research done in Nigeria's health context (Abasilim & Moses, 2023), as most studies have
been done in other countries (Rudolf, 2021), most notably in developed countries such as the United Kingdom (UK), United States (US), China, South Korea, and some Caribbean countries, or even in some country's economic sector (Javed & Chattu, 2020), trade (Chattu, Pooransingh & Allahverdipour, 2021), international health organisations (Lawrence, Moon & Benjamin, 2020).
Furthermore, a review of the literature on the relationship between Health Diplomacy and the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria revealed that studies have not focused on the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and that Health Diplomacy, as the name implies, lacks definitional precision, thereby leaving a critical gap that must be filled to determine whether the findings of previous studies in other climes can be generalised or hold sway in the Nigerian health context. This paper investigates the relationship between health diplomacy and COVID-19 containment in Nigeria. This study addressed the following research questions:
1. What is the relationship between health diplomacy and Nigeria's COVID-19 pandemic containment?
2. What are the feasible strategies that the NCDC can employ through health diplomacy to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic?
3. How effective were Nigeria's COVID-19 pandemic containment policy measures, as implemented through health diplomacy by the NCDC?
4. What suggestions do you have for reducing the COVID-19 pandemic's impact in Nigeria?
This paper has both theoretical and practical implications. In theory, this paper demonstrates how Health Diplomacy (HD) can be accomplished through collective action. As a result, this paper fills a gap in the literature and contributes to the academic debate on the expectations of health diplomacy in the context of COVID-19 containment in Nigeria. Previous literature review reveals that little or no research has been conducted in the Nigerian context, and that HD and COVID-19 lack definitional precision and theoretical grounding. This paper contributes to the body of knowledge in International Relations.
Furthermore, this paper contributes to the growing body of scholarly work on Health Diplomacy and COVID-19 containment in Nigeria, which will serve as a guide or reference material for both researchers and public
Diplomacy and Covid-19 Pandemic Containment in Nigeria libraries seeking to understand and conduct
similar research and further studies on the subject. In practice, the study's findings provide valuable insights to both stakeholders and government health workers on how to contain the COVID-19 pandemic through the diplomatic means of Health Diplomacy.
LITERATURE REVIEW
The Concept of Health Diplomacy and Pandemic
Health diplomacy is defined as global interaction involving a variety of mechanisms such as the signing of multilateral or bilateral aid agreements between donor countries and receiving countries to the procedures for developing mandatory as well as non-binding international health or health-related agreements (Smith & Irwin, 2016). This implies that health diplomacy entails a healthy interaction between a health facility's sender and receiver, which is accomplished through a variety of means. Furthermore, according to Ruckert (2016), health diplomacy refers to the processes by which policymakers and non-state actors attempt to organize measures to promote global health. Health diplomacy is the interaction of countries regarding health issues that must be addressed.
While a pandemic is defined as an outbreak that affects a large number of people and spreads globally or across a large region, that is, it crosses international borders (Qiu., Rutherford., Mao & Chu, 2017). The word
"pandemic" comes from the Greek words "pan"
and "demos," which mean "everything" and
"people," correspondingly. A pandemic is a worldwide outbreak of infectious disease that occurs simultaneously in one or more countries or across one or more continents (Honigsbaum, 2009). Pandemics are disease outbreaks caused by direct contact between people (WHO, 2011).
Throughout history, many major disease outbreaks and pandemics have occurred, including the Hong Kong Flu, Spanish Flu, SARS, H7N9, Zika, and Ebola (Rewar, Mirdha & Rewar, 2016).
Government Responses to COVID-19 Pandemic in Nigeria
The outbreak of the contagious COVID-19 pandemic is a shocking example of unimaginable misinformation about how deadly an illness is, when, where, and how to obtain a vaccine against the virus. Following
China's first confirmed cases of COVID-19, Nigeria was one of the first countries to identify the potential danger and began preparations (Anjorin, 2020). Though Nigeria has been dealing with the emergency effect of the lockdown, which forced governments to provide relief packages to communities hardest hit by the virus, these palliatives were politicized for no discernible reason during the first wave of the pandemic in Nigeria (Buss &
Tobar, 2018; Ebenso & Otu, 2020).
To decrease the virus's spread, the entire world has embarked on a variety of non- pharmaceutical procedures, such as steaming, boosting the immune system with various herbs and foods, and many others. Travel restrictions to and from countries at risk with population-based COVID-19 spread; staying at home; dispatching rapid response teams to all affected states; border restrictions; state-level health personnel preparation; case management; intensified risk communication;
isolation, and enhanced monitoring are some of them. Additionally, the Federal Capital Territory, Lagos, and Ogun States have all temporarily restricted social and religious activities, closed their businesses and schools, and imposed movement restrictions.
Additionally, the nation developed and increased the capacity of seven laboratories to perform COVID-19 diagnostics, with plans to add 13 more in the future (NCDC, 2020). As a result, the Federal Government of Nigeria has increased the scope of its social safety net and welfare programmes to combat poverty and lessen the adverse effects of unintentional partial lockdown on the standard of living in the afflicted nations. The most defenceless and impoverished members of the afflicted communities are the ones who will benefit from free meals and rations, conditional cash transfers, and other types of palliative care.
Around 100,000 internally displaced people in Borno State received soap and sanitisers for hand-washing campaigns and other relief efforts (Peterson, 2020).
The Global Humanitarian Response Plan for COVID-19, which includes providing personal protective equipment for health workers, sanitation, laboratory supplies for testing, medical equipment to treat the ill, and hand washing stations in settlements and camps, has recently been urged by the UN to all donors, partners, and stakeholders. Even yet, governments in African nations like Kenya have
been able to respond to the advent of COVID-19 by offering support to a range of industries, including agriculture, the environment, health, small and medium-sized businesses, and even education. The Nigerian government made similar efforts to help its citizens through five main pillars.
This includes establishing the presidential task force, collaborating with the health sector and the NCDC, and government efforts to contain the virus through lockdown, stay-at-home orders, travel bans, school closures, and border closures, but these measures have always resulted in economic crises. The federal ministry of humanitarian affairs also provided food and palliatives to people, as well as financial assistance through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). For example, financial assistance such as a one-year loan extension, 5% interest rate reduction, an additional one-billion-naira intervention, and money to boost economic sectors and local production, loans, and agricultural business owners (Ejere, 2021).
The government also restricted some plans, such as Nigerian sustainability plans, which were to help the poor. Free grants of 50,000 naira were given to 100,000 businesses, with 45% of the money going to women empowerment. One might wonder how effective Nigeria's aforementioned measures were. Despite its large population, Nigeria had only performed a few COVID-19 tests as of April 2020. This demonstrates how unprepared Nigeria was for the pandemic, despite the fact that it began in other countries before reaching Nigeria. Nigeria did not anticipate the virus's arrival, demonstrating the need for the country to adapt to the situation and plan ahead for any unforeseen issues that may arise in the near future (Ejere, 2021).
A Review of Previous Empirical Studies on the Relationship Between Health Diplomacy and COVID-19 Containment
The relationship between health diplomacy and the COVID-19 containment has undoubtedly piqued researchers' interest. The majority of studies yielded a variety of outcomes; for example, Javed and Chattu (2020) discovered that COVID-19 is still spreading around the world and has claimed lives, highlighting the failure of international cooperation. They also believe that health should not be used as a political tool at the expense of people's lives or as a proxy for
geopolitics, but rather to reduce tensions and foster a conducive environment for political debate. Similarly, Caballero (2020) asserts that preventing the COVID-19 pandemic from having disastrous consequences requires a coordinated and efficient global response involving all actors at various governmental levels.
However, this study backs up Caballero's (2020) initial observation that a coordinated determination is required to mitigate the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. Soft power has been shown to be extremely effective in achieving national objectives and interests. Because of this success, more countries have increased their efforts in both directions of health diplomacy. Subarkah and Bukhari (2020) explain the need for global steps such as the World Economic Forum acting as a liaison between the government, business, and the private sector to create a COVID-19 Response Action Platform in South Korean Health Diplomacy in the face of COVID-19.
According to Chattu and Chami (2020), SDGs - 10 and 17 are concerned with reduced inequalities and partnership for the goal, while SDG-16 is concerned with peace, justice, and strong institutions, implying that global health diplomacy serves as a complex wheel that engages with these parameters.
They also suggested that there is a strong need for all key stakeholders to collaborate in a multi-pronged approach through global health diplomacy to mitigate, avoid, and combat such health security threats (both now and in the future). In contrast to the preceding studies, Brown and Ladwig (2020) asserted that, unlike the World Trade Organization, the WHO has no authority to sanction or otherwise pressure its member states to do things against their will. In addition to what Brown and Ladwig (2020) observed, the failure of the World Health Organization and individual countries to stop COVID-19 is explained by the World Health Organization and individual countries' lack of obligatory, institutional, and epistemic power.
Similarly, Gauttam, Singh, and Kaur (2020) discuss how inadequate healthcare services in developing countries have been discovered. Dhimal, Ghimire, Pokhrel, and Dhimal (2021) proposed that an equitable allocation of COVID-19 vaccines be based on global health equity and social justice principles to reduce existing health and socioeconomic disparities between developed and poor countries in order to avoid inequalities
Diplomacy and Covid-19 Pandemic Containment in Nigeria between countries. According to Ching, Chien,
and Chuan (2020) Taiwan's combat experience with COVID-19 offers an alternative model to China's myth of authoritarian efficacy. They went on to say that the country's ability to respond quickly has improved as a result of health diplomacy, which has resulted in international cooperation from other governments, regional and international organizations.
Another study, conducted by Javed and Chattu (2020), has transformed the foreign policy-health nexus. In a similar vein, Fazal (2020) contended that health diplomacy differs from health governance in that governments' goals in engaging in health diplomacy may not be focused on regulating the global policy environment for health. Similarly, Barrinha and Renard (2020) stated in their study that numerous challenges lie ahead, and regional reengagement will take time. Similarly, Divsallar and Narbone (2020) discovered that the issues caused by COVID-19 could pave the way for new approaches to resolving US-Iran tensions. Many will be determined, however, by the strategic decisions made by both parties.
While Gostin, Moon & Meier (2020) found in their study that a new governance environment will be critical to enhancing global public health as it emerges from crisis and secures a safer future.
According to E-International Relations and Al Bayaa (2020), developing more sophisticated bilateral health data apparatuses among nations, establishing long-term data collaborations among governments, increasing the number of Health Attachés globally, and substantiating global health policies through post-modern health diplomacy will all help to find new solutions to future health challenges.
Taghizade, Chattu, Jaafaripooyan & Kevany (2021) argued in their study that the post- coronavirus world could be characterised by increasing nationalism conflicts over economic resurgence and political dominance.
Strengthening collaboration among nations at various levels, on the other hand, will result in increased health, economic prosperity, and security. Likewise, Jatmika, Permana, Koko, and Salsabila (2021) thought that the Indonesian government had significant issues with political communication with international communities, intergovernmental organisations, and individuals and health diplomacy.
According to Sharma, Casanova, Corvin, and Hoare (2021), public health and global health practitioners must learn health diplomacy skills to function well in complex health crises like the present coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak. Similarly, Chattu, Pooransingh and Allahverdipour's study from 2021 channelled opinions on the value of commerce and economic principles while concluding that achieving this goal requires concerted action. In this multipolar international society, it is crucial to go forward collaboratively to ensure a safer world. COVID- 19 has presented both challenges and opportunities. The Rudolf (2021) study, which found it plausible to anticipate China to play a significant role in immunizing the world's population, may also be connected. This would support the Chinese leadership's portrayal of China as a significant responsible power. Since the start of the pandemic, China has made the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a high-profile initiative of President Xi Jinping's foreign policy, a condition of its support in the fight against the virus.
RESEARCH METHOD
A thorough literature search was carried out in 2020–2021 in well-known databases such as Google Scholar, Scopus, and Research Gate. The review was done to find studies on
"Health Diplomacy" and "COVID-19 containment in Nigeria." A thorough search technique was used to locate the papers using a variety of keyword combinations, including
"COVID-19," "Health Diplomacy," "Nigeria," and
"Pandemic." Reports from the NCDC and the WHO were also included in the resources. All English-language full-peer-reviewed manuscripts of articles and reports were checked for plagiarism and missing research. A few verifiable reports from national and international organizations, such as the World Health Organization, NCDC, and Nigerian government websites, were also included in the grey literature to give the information more credibility.
The identified studies were reviewed for appropriateness for this review, and the authors independently carried out the document review procedure to assure quality because few studies on this interdisciplinary topic are specifically relevant to the Nigerian context; all of the studies that were included in this study were carefully reviewed, and those
that met the selection criteria were retrieved for further analysis. As a result, we found many helpful reports and gathered information from the websites of significant organizations, as mentioned above. In this study, we identified 55 records out of the total 10,400 results from the database search. This study's sources included 37 journal articles, 8 books, 4 online commentaries, 2 World Health Organization (WHO) reports, and 4 Nigerian Centre for Disease Control reports (NCDC).
Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria.
Studies with a Nigerian context, English publication, and a focus on COVID-19 containment in Nigeria were eligible for inclusion. This study examines COVID-19 containment and health diplomacy in Nigeria. A pandemic is a global epidemic of infectious illnesses that spreads across international borders simultaneously, occurs everywhere, and typically affects many people. The term
"health diplomacy," as used in this work, refers to cooperation between various nations to address shared health problems and evaluate these efforts through narratives based on published research. This study used a case study research approach, allowing for a thorough examination and understanding of the findings.
Employees at the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in Abuja, Nigeria, comprised the study's population. This decision was made because, among other things, the staff helps execute the mandate to identify and address infectious disease outbreaks (NCDC website, 2021). These workers served on the front lines at the height of the pandemic. The sample size was selected from four (4) Directors of Public Health Laboratory Services, four (4) from Prevention Programmes and Knowledge Management, four (4) from Emergency Preparedness and Response, and four (4) from Surveillance and Epidemiology in Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). The study focuses on purposive sampling because of these individuals' high level of professional skills.
In this study, the qualitative data- gathering approach was adopted. In the study, primary and secondary data were collected. As the research questions served as a guide in creating the interview questions, the structured interview technique was used as the primary data source to gather vital information about the issue. The study reviewed books, journals on related subjects, news stories, official
documents, and the internet for secondary data.
Professional health specialists participated in an in-depth interview with open-ended questions, and they gave the researcher helpful information. The interview consists of organized questions with a few probing questions to ensure the interviewees grasp the questions and in case the interviewees need more answers to the questions.
Ethical Consideration. Participation in the study was entirely voluntary, and all analyses were performed on anonymized data.
Covenant University's ethics committee in Ota, Ogun State, approved the study. Covenant University sent an official letter to NCDC. The purpose of the study was explained to the respondents, and they were also given the option to withdraw from the interview sections.
RESULT & DISCUSSION
This section contains a transcription of the responses obtained from interviewees at the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in the departments of Public Health Laboratory Services, Prevention Programmes and Knowledge Management, Emergency Preparedness and Response, Surveillance and Epidemiology. Findings from the response summary as it addressed the research questions are outlined below:
Question 1: What is the relationship between health diplomacy and Nigeria's COVID-19 pandemic containment?
All respondents agreed that there is a clear link between health diplomacy and COVID-19 containment in Nigeria. The respondents also agreed that COVID-19 was a wake-up call for Nigeria, in the area of the status of the health infrastructure, and that the pandemic exposed some grey areas in Nigeria's healthcare system, prompting the need to improve health security, raise awareness, implement preventive measures, reduce mortality rates, collaborate with international organizations such as the World Health Organization, the United Nations, and so on, and improve communication. More hospitals and laboratories were built, capacity building for staff and agencies in terms of health development, collaboration, reporting, vaccination, and even research was scaled up, more infrastructure and medical equipment were supplied, training emergency response centers across the states, recruitment of health workers, and isolation centers were all seen as
Diplomacy and Covid-19 Pandemic Containment in Nigeria signs of Nigeria's health infrastructure being
scaled up through health diplomacy.
Question 2: What are the feasible strategies that the NCDC can employ through health diplomacy to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic?
Respondents agreed, saying that health diplomacy strategies that can be used to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in NCDC are Nigerians' commitments. They also believe that training, support, risk management, prevention and control, and case management, sustainability, and the fact that relationships with foreign partners should be strengthened even after the pandemic is over for future assistance, recruitment of more staff, community testing, anti-epidemic measures, quarantine, and good leadership should be ingrained. Interviewee 3 disagreed, claiming that there are viable and operational strategies in place, including the Surveillance Outbreak Response Management and Analysis System (SORMAS) and the Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response Management System (IDSRMS) (IDSRM). Both of these are reporting tools used by the IT department to survey and monitor COVID-19 cases.
Question 3: How effective were Nigeria's COVID-19 pandemic containment policy measures, as implemented through health diplomacy by the NCDC?
To some extent, all respondents agreed that the policy measures were effective.
According to Interviewee 1, the travel policies were effective, but the internal policies were not. As per interviewee 2, the level of negligence in terms of policy observance is too high, and that both collective and individual effort is required. Interviewee 3 also stated that the policies were somewhat effective.
According to interviewee 4, the pieces of training were also effective to some extent, but more effort is required. According to Interviewee 5, policies were quite effective, but negligence and bad leadership examples were major issues, along with poor social distancing.
While Interviewee 6 stated that the policy measures were partially effective, he believes that greater commitment to the policies is required.
Question 4: What suggestions do you have for reducing the COVID-19 pandemic's impact in Nigeria?
All respondents agreed that the policy measures were effective to some extent.
Interviewee 1 stated that the travel policies were effective, but the internal policies were not. Interviewee 2 stated that the level of negligence in terms of policy observance is too high and that both collective and individual effort is required. Interviewee 3 agreed that the policies were effective to some extent.
Interviewee 4 stated that the training was effective to some extent, but that more effort is required. According to interviewee 5, policies were quite effective, but negligence and bad leadership examples were major issues, along with poor social distancing. While Interviewee 6 stated that the policy measures were partially effective, more commitment to the policies is required.
The respondents came up with a variety of solutions for mitigating the COVID-19 spillover effect. According to Interviewee 1, border security and sensitization should be strengthened. Information, awareness, prevention, and quarantine should all be improved. Interviewee 2 thought that policies should be strictly enforced, and that communication, training, education, and capacity building for health workers should be improved. Non-pharmaceutical measures, social distancing, hygiene practices, and lab testing, according to interviewee 3, should be strengthened. Interviewee 4 advocated for increased vigilance, personal hygiene, threat reporting, proper allocation of health resources, and data analysis that is up to date, as some foreign assistance will not be available indefinitely. Interviewee 5 believes that proper communication channels should be established, and that Nigeria should wake up and learn to adapt to changing circumstances. While interviewees 6–16 suggested that effective COVID-19 prevention measures, as well as increased awareness and communication in terms of reorientation and training, would help Nigeria recover from the pandemic's spillover effect.
The use of health diplomacy by the NCDC to contain the COVID-19 pandemic was scrutinized and investigated. The first interview question revealed that the COVID-19 pandemic was contained in Nigeria through the use of health diplomacy by the NCDC. Based on the foregoing, it is possible to conclude that there is a direct relationship between health diplomacy and COVID-19 containment in Nigeria. In other words, if the NCDC had not contained COVID-19 through health diplomacy,
Nigeria would have been the worst hit with so many incidence cases. This validates empirical findings from relevant literature on Health Diplomacy and COVID-19 conducted by Chattu and Chami (2020), e-International Relations and Al Bayaa (2020), and Subarkah and Bukhari (2020). (2020).
Furthermore, the findings revealed that the pandemic served as a wake-up call for improved health infrastructure, security, medical equipment, preventive measures to prevent, control, and manage mortality rates, and the establishment of more testing laboratories. For the second research question, the study discovered that the strategies put into practice, such as effective risk management, prevention, control, case management, travel ban, Quarantine, isolation, mask use, hand washing, and social isolation were effective and served as a workable strategy used by the NCDC to lessen the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The findings also revealed the interviewees' recommendations for mitigating the COVID-19 spillover effect. They believed that border security and sensitization should be improved.
Information, awareness, prevention, and quarantine should all be improved.
Non-pharmaceutical measures, social distancing, hygiene practices, and laboratory testing should be improved. Better vigilance, personal hygiene, threat reporting, proper allocation of health resources, and data analysis should be updated, and states should assume their responsibilities, as some of this foreign assistance will not be sustainable. The effective implementation of COVID-19 preventive measures, as well as increased awareness and communication in terms of reorientation and training, would go a long way toward recovering from the pandemic's spillover effect in Nigeria.
CONCLUSION
This study adds valuable empirical evidence to the body of literature on health diplomacy and COVID-19. This study establishes a significant positive relationship between health diplomacy and the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria. The advent of the pandemic was a wake-up call to the system as a whole on how to take up responsibility for health issues. Also, the involvement and collaboration of social workers, epidemiologists and many more health practitioners have helped contain the virus to some extent, but rethinking and reprojecting
the mitigation strategies to handle the COVID- 19 pandemic is imperative for the best result. It is worthy of note to conclude that the COVID-19 pandemic was contained through health diplomacy by the NCDC. The following recommendations are made in light of the study's findings: There is a need for Nigeria to maintain its friendship with the foreign partners that have supported Nigeria in containing the COVID-19 pandemic. Nigeria should not neglect this kind gesture. This could be achieved through periodic meetings, conferences and many more ways to connect.
The NCDC as the primary health institution for COVID-19 and other communicable diseases should take up the responsibility to ensure that this partnership strategy works. Taking up responsibilities by Nigeria health services is also recommended because these partners would not be there forever to support because they also have services to render to their home country and therefore would return in no time.
Nigeria should do more to increase public awareness and educate the public about the COVID-19 pandemic as part of ramping up its public health infrastructure through health diplomacy at the NCDC. The government has to hire more qualified health professionals since the old workers get tired and worn out due to their limited number. The government should strengthen their production or importation of Personal Protective Equipment to also protect these health workers from the forefront of contracting this disease. Again, pieces of training and re-orientation of health workers should also be strengthened. The government should also be committed to building more health facilities and engage in more renovations of health facilities that would help Nigeria's health infrastructure.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We are grateful to the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) Centre of Excellence for the Conference Presentation Travel Grants that was awarded to participate and present a paper in the Annual International Conference of the Faculty of Management and Social Sciences (FM&SS), Lead City University, Ibadan, Nigeria with the theme: "Achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2030:
Approaching Possibilities through Socio- Political, Economic, and Management Dimensions" which metamorphosed to this journal article.
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