By Enyinna Omoke, Abakaliki
Health workers at the David Umahi Federal University Teaching Hospital (DUFUTH), Ebonyi State, have received specialised training on medical oxygen economy and infrastructure under the EQUI-RESP Africa Project.
The training workshop, which held on Tuesday, September 1, 2026, at the Main Conference Hall of DUFUTH, was attended by medical personnel, healthcare professionals and resource persons from within and outside Nigeria.
The EQUI-RESP Africa Project is a multi-country research initiative aimed at developing context-specific interventions to address respiratory diseases in low- and middle-income countries. The project is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), United Kingdom, in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh.
Speaking on “Understanding Medical Oxygen Economy and Ecosystem,” the Vice Chancellor of David Umahi Federal University of Health Sciences (DUFUHS) and Ebonyi Project Lead for EQUI-RESP Africa, Prof. Jesse Uneke, said the project was being implemented across about five African countries, including Nigeria, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire and South Africa.
Uneke said Nigeria was particularly strategic to the project because of its population, size and importance to global health interventions.
He said, “If you are talking about global health and you involve other African countries without bringing Nigeria into it, you have not started. Nigeria is very strategic in any kind of global health intervention.
“Whatever comes out of this country in terms of interventions, research outputs and everything that has to do with the dynamics of disease transmission, especially diseases that have assumed global dimensions, cannot afford to relegate Nigeria to the background.”
According to him, Nigeria has two project leads under the initiative, with one based at the University of Lagos and another at DUFUHS in Ebonyi State.
He described the establishment of an EQUI-RESP Africa project centre in Ebonyi as a significant development, noting that it would strengthen research and health interventions in the state.
Uneke commended the management of DUFUTH for its partnership in implementing the project, noting that the research was being carried out in two teaching hospitals — Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki (AE-FUTHA), and DUFUTH.
