The Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, has challenged Nigerians to imbibe good health, positive behaviour, good personal and environmental hygiene in order to curb the spread of the deadly Lassa Fever
He stated this when the Association of General and Private Medical Practitioners of Nigeria (AGPMPN) held the groundbreaking and fundraising ceremony of its Doctor's House in Ogba-Ijaye mixed development area of Lagos State.
According to him, "all these are very crucial not only for Lassa Fever but most infectious diseases. We must cover our waste properly to avoid rodents, cockroaches going near them. We must keep our environment clean; maintain good personal hygiene. Hand washing is crucial,” adding that, “hand washing reduces the burden of infectious diseases by almost 40 per cent.
"We were taught in medical school, the basic universal protection. If you are dealing with a patient, whether infectious or not, there are certain things we are expected to do; put on your gloves, gowns, protective covering with respect to potential suspected infectious disease. The doctor or health worker must protect himself or herself first to avoid spreading of the disease. That is why it is called universal precaution,” Idris said. He said just as the government was playing its role, the people and health workers must play their roles as well.
Also, the Chairman of AGPMPN Lagos Chapter, Dr. Adeyeye Arigbebuwo said: "As you have all been told, Lassa fever has a carrier or vector which is the rat and as I always tell people, the rat population would always exceed the human population no matter what effort we try to make. If the human population is 6 billion you expect the rat population to be 12 billion. We can not exterminate them we can only eradicate them. Therefore, we need to get rid of the outlet and inlet of rat. Then our food and drinks should be well covered. Our waste disposal should not be in a way that pests and rodents will create access into them thereby spreading the disease.
"Also, we should create this attitude of universal hygiene of hand washing. For health workers, if they suspect a case for example, they should "gown up" " glove up" and do everything possible so that we prevent its spread because it is a human- to- human transmission: it only happens when you have got an experience with a sufferer so to say,” he said.
According to him, people should stop spreading their garri and other food items in open places, as rats can go there and urinate or deficate on them.
Throwing more light on the issue, a medical expert, Dr. Ore Falomo said environmental sanitation was crucial to curbing the scourge. "Most Nigerians of lesser means still live in a sad condition. You would see a rat climbing on their foot while sleeping and they would just shake it off. They would see rats eating up bags of rice, clothes, books and they do nothing to eradicate them. Some people still eat rat to this day. They call it Okete. We should desist from such act. We should stop inviting death to ourselves, it is suicidal.
By: Sandra Ukele
This Day News
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