S/West states adopt proactive measures against communicable diseases
NAN-H-10
Diseases
Ibadan, March 19, 2017 (NAN) States in the South West Zone are taking pro-active measures against communicable diseases through surveillance, prompt response and sensitisation initiatives.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the action follow the recent outbreak of Cerebro Spinal Meningitis (CSM) in Zamfara and Sokoto States, which many lives.
A survey conducted across states in the South West Zone and Kwara indicated that many state governments are also working with institutional partners to promote safe health practices in order to check communicable diseases.
In Ogun, the state Assistant Epidemiologist, Dr Hakeem Yusuff, said government had trained Disease Surveillance and Notification Officers (DSNOs) in every local government area of the state as part of the preventive measures.
“We also do regular sensitisation of the LGAs and Health Facilities (HFs) on disease surveillance and prompt reporting of priority diseases.
“We are quick to do pre-position of drugs, medical supplies and personal protective equipment and regular supportive supervision from the state to LGAs and health facilities.
“We engage in regular training of LGA Epidemic Preparedness and Response team and health workers on Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) skills,” he said.
On management and control measures, the doctor said the state had a high index of suspicion for detecting epidemic prone diseases like Lassa fever in the state.
He added that the state had maintained a standard of an average of “less than 24 hours prompt response to outbreaks’’.
Yusuff further said that the state has an effective and timely case management and safe burial practices for death from Viral Haemorrhagic Fevers (VHF) like Lassa fever.
“We also have a timely laboratory confirmation of causes of outbreak and decontamination of infected areas like wards and homes,” he said.
Yusuff said that the state had maintained an effective surveillance activities system that had attracted commendation from various bodies.
“Our surveillance activities have been so effective that we recently received award as the best state on surveillance at the just concluded National Surveillance meeting in Enugu,” he said.
He advised residents to always seek medical attention when faced with health challenges.
“The rains are almost here and so we advise our people to make it a point of duty to protect themselves and clear their drainages so as to forestall any kind of disease,” Yusuf added.
He said the state had monitored more than 20 communicable diseases between November 2016 and February 2017.
Yusuff said the monitoring was done through the Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response forms.
According to him, the diseases monitored include cholera, pertussis, pneumonia, diarrhoea, measles and tuberculosis.
He, however, said that the state had only recorded an outbreak of Lassa fever and diarrhoea during the dry season.
According to him, there were two separate outbreaks of Lassa fever during the period in Abeokuta, adding that one resulted in death.
“The first outbreak was in December 2016 in Abeokuta involving one confirmed case, three probable cases and 14 suspected cases with six deaths; but the case fatality rate among confirmed case is 100 per cent.’’
He said 350 contacts were line listed and monitored for 21 days.
“The second outbreak was in February 2017, also in Abeokuta involving one confirmed case, none probable, while 73 contacts were line listed and monitored also for 21 days, and no death was recorded,” he said.
Yusuff added that the outbreak of diarrhoea was recorded in a private tertiary institution involving 530 students, with two deaths recorded, giving a case fatality rate of 0.4 per cent.
The Ogun chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), however, told NAN that it would continue to organise seminars and heath talks for clerics who in turn were expected to create awareness among their congregations on health issues.
CAN Secretary in Ogun, Rev. Tolulope Taiwo, noted that religious bodies have the responsibility of assisting the government in preventing and eradicating diseases in the society.
He explained further that such steps were in tune with the will of God “Who wishes above all things that we live in good health as our soul prospers’’.
“It is the responsibility of any religious leader, be it a Christian or Muslim, to make sure that the will, the plan and the purpose of God on health for his children come to pass.
“It is our duty to educate, enlighten and impact on the people to assist them to take necessary precautionary measures to avoid the outbreak of any form of disease.
“On our part as a religious body and the umbrella body that controls Christian groups in Ogun, we have been organising health seminars and conferences to educate our religious leaders because it’s what you have that you can give to others.
“We usually invite medical doctors and other health experts to give talks at such seminars and we will not relent in our efforts in this regard,” he said.
Similarly, the Ekiti Government said it had taken proactive measures to tackle all forms of communicable diseases.
The state Commissioner for Health, Dr Simeon Ojo, said its Primary Health Care Agency was being adequately funded to ensure scaling-up of essential primary health interventions and prevention methods.
According to him, such interventions are aimed at promoting the general wellbeing of the populace, but with particular attention focused on maternal health and child survival.
He said as a way of showing commitment and seriousness, N518.5 million was allocated to the health sector in the 2017 budget, out of which N46 million went to the primary health care agency to enable it fight diseases.
The commissioner listed such diseases as including Malaria, Tetanus, Onchocerchiasis and Lymphtic Flariasis as well as all the six killer diseases.
Others, he said, are diarrhoea, meningitis and conjunctivitis, adding that the current campaign against Ebola Virus would be sustained.
He said the administration had started implementing its special health intervention programme through introduction of free health care services for children aged 0-5, pregnant women, the physically challenged as well as the aged.
Besides, he disclosed that functional equipment and qualified personnel were being deployed in all healthcare facilities in the state, while no fewer than two doctors and nine nurses had been recruited and deployed in each of the primary health centres across the state.
To check sabotage of government efforts, he said a supervision mechanism had also been put in place for constant monitoring of the activities of health providers at the various health centres in the state.
The state Director of Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr Joshua Ileke, also said government was now set to wage war against the polio disease.
He said the state government would immunise 700,000 children of below age five in the next stage of polio immunisation exercise under the National Immunisation Plus Days (NIPDS).
The programme, according to the director, would involve all the critical stakeholders in mobilisation efforts across the 177 wards of the state.
He lamented that the re-listing of the country as a polio infested nation by the World Health Organisation was worrisome and intolerable.
He said the state has an estimated population of 3.3 million going by the 2006 census with about 22 per cent of the population below age five.
This segment of the population, he said, could not be treated with disdain if the state was to maintain an overall healthy population.
“Nigeria was declared polio free in 2014 and this we maintained till 2016, before another outbreak was noticed in Borno state.
“We were expecting a polio-free certificate from WHO when this happened and Nigeria had to be relisted again as a nation where polio is endemic.
“We were able to maintain this for two years before this virus reared its ugly head last year September.
“We shall be visiting all households, schools, churches, markets to ensure that no child is left un-immunised,” he said.
The director noted that though the state had not recorded any case of polio or other high profile diseases for close to 20 years, there was still the compelling need to prevent them.
“This has become necessary because if just only one per cent of children are attacked and later show paralysis, others serving as carriers can spread it through sneezing, coughing and stooling.
“We are choosing children below age five as the target because they are the most vulnerable to most of the diseases.
“Though I am not saying other age groups can’t contact it, but it is more dangerous in children of those ages,’’ he said.
Ileke appealed to residents of the state to participate in the immunisation exercise.
“Some of our people used to hide their children due to religious inclinations.
“This is wrong and dangerous because children that are not well immunised could serve as carriers that can spread the virus.
“Whoever does this is a potential danger to wherever he lives,’’ he said.
An official of Family Health Crusaders Network, an Ngo based in Ado Ekiti, Mr Michael Akinniran, said many institutions were collaborating toward ensuring passage of the Health Insurance Scheme Bill before the state legislature.
A private medical practitioner, Dr Toyosi Akomolafe, urged the state government to accord more recognition to the vital role which owners of private health institutions could play in driving the ship of healthcare delivery.
A traditional health practitioner, Mr Akinniyi Salako, said all manner of deadly diseases ravaging the country could have been effectively tackled if those involved in alternative medicine were carried along.
On his part, the Director of Public Health in Osun Ministry of Health, Dr Olugbenga Adepoju, said government had concluded plans to embark on a sensitisation campaign.
Adepoju said in Osogbo that some preventive measures had also been put in place by the government to combat any unexpected outbreak of epidemic in the state.
He said with the unpredictable weather in the country, many are susceptible to diseases such as meningitis, diarrhoea, conjunctivitis and malaria.
According to him, the state government is planning to use the media to raise the consciousness of the public.
He added that diseases such as stroke, malaria, cholera, typhoid, influenza and running nose were common symptoms associated with weather fluctuation.
Adepoju, who noted that there was no record of outbreak of epidemic or communicable disease in the state, said measures being put in place to check any outbreak of communicable would be unveiled soon.
Also speaking, Dr Adedeji Solomon, a medical practitioner, urged the state government through its Centre for Disease Control to carry out public education and enlightenment programmes on the need to keep an hygienic environment.
Solomon advised government to also educate the people not to have a direct contact with any person displaying any form of illness without putting on protective kits.
He added that proper hand washing should be encouraged, adding that the use of personal protective equipment such as gloves, facemasks and gowns were necessary to reduce exposure to infectious materials.
According to Solomon, public enlightenment and provision of drugs in public hospitals as well as taking care of the welfare of medical staff should be given priority by the government.
Speaking in the same vein, Mrs Nusirat Adetomiwa, the Chief Environmental Officer in Ife East Local Government Council of the state, said personal hygiene and proper environmental sanitation would go a long way in preventing communicable and airborne diseases.
Adetomiwa said the council had embarked on house- to-house campaign to educate people on the need to keep a clean environment.
“Prevention is better than cure and that is why we have been encouraging people to always wash their hands and avoid putting fingers into their eyes,’’ she said.
She also appealed to the people of the state to report all cases of unusual fevers to government health facilities.
Dr Oladapo Okareh, a lecturer at the Department of Environmental Health Sciences (EHS), University of Ibadan, decried the poor waste disposal and management system in Ibadan metropolis during this rainy season.
“The poor way our refuse and wastes are being managed is a major factor causing the spread of many water-related and air-borne diseases.
“Solid waste management constitutes a growing problem in the city.
“Poor waste disposal contributes to the impact of seasonal flooding by blocking drainages, increasing debris and harbouring disease vectors,” he said.
He said that open defecation, non-availability of excreta disposal facilities and poor hygiene also promote the spread of communicable diseases.
The expert identified diarrhoea, malaria, conjunctivitis and measles as common communicable diseases.
Mrs Grace Adekoya, a Chief Public Health Nursing Officer in the Department of Public Health Nursing, University College Hospital, Ibadan, said no fewer than 357 children were treated for malaria and diarrhoea in the last seven months.
She said the hospital normally recorded high admission rates of communicable diseases in extreme weather changes with children mostly affected.
“Out of this figure, 128 were treated for diarrhoea while 229 were treated for malaria successfully,” she said.
Adekoya said diarrhoea and stooling at this period has a high prevalence in children between one month and one year.
“Lack of adequate care given to toddlers at home and at day care centres could also cause diarrhoea in the children.
“Prevention is mainly by getting adequate and good pipe-born water, washing hands with soap and water before cooking and after leaving the toilets and regular fumigation of the house and surroundings,’’ she said.
The Coordinator of Health Builders Community, an Ibadan-based NGO, Dr Toni Iken, called for maximising efforts to promote awareness about diseases through health seminars and community education.
“We have collaborated with some religious bodies in the past to disseminate relevant information about diseases.
“However, funding is a major constraint in carrying out some of our programmes; we seek the support of well-meaning Nigerians.
“There is need to scale up awareness about the importance of a healthy population to a prosperous nation,” she said.
Meanwhile, Dr Atolagbe Alege, the state Commissioner for Health in Kwara, has disclosed that the state government in collaboration with Catholic Relief Service would distribute about 1.1 million Long Lasting Insecticidal Nets (LLIN) across the 16 local government areas.
Alege said a committee had already being inaugurated to supervise the distribution of the mosquito nets.
“Kwara in the area of health indices is leading in the country and that is why many partners work in this state in the area of health intervention,” he said.
In the area of Tuberculosis control in the state, he said the government had partnered with Damien Foundation of Belgium to eradicate the resurgence of the disease.
The commissioner said that the state government had already put in place a TB management control centre.
He said that Kwara remained one of the foci states in the North Central Zone making efforts toward eradication of tuberculosis.
Alege also said government was committed to eliminating Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) in the state by 2020.
He explained that the state government had inaugurated NTDs State Technical Advisory Committee to eliminate blinding trachoma and other neglected diseases in the state.
The commissioner noted that NTDs were poverty-related and degenerating diseases such as trachoma, leprosy, buruli ulcer, elephantiasis, soil transmitted helminthes, schistosomiasis and river blindness.
Alege also said about 5,000 children between ages zero to five years had been immunised in the free eye vision screening exercise put in place in all the 16 local government areas.
He said five immunisation centres had been earmarked for the exercise in the state so as to assist children.
In Ondo, Mr Busari Ismaila, Chairman, National Association of Government General Medical and Dental Practitioners (NAGGMDP), advocated clean environment to prevent communicable diseases.
Busari told NAN in Akure that most communicable diseases were contracted due to dirty environments and poor hygiene.
He also identified buying food from dirty vendors and failure to wash hands after using the toilet as common ways to contact such diseases.
“We have to be careful when preparing meals to avoid having these diseases.
“As an association, we normally try to have health talks in local government areas both in and outside Akure in order to sensitise the people about clean environments.
“Schools and communities are some places where we have these health talks,” he said. (NAN)
Reporters/OJO/MST
Edited by Mufutau Ojo/Muhammad Suleiman Tola
