The recent outbreak of Lassa fever in some parts of the country has been described as failure of public health system in the country.
A media guru and former Editor of Daily Trust, Alhaji Ishaq Modibo, who disclosed this at a health retreat organised by the International Society of Media in Public Health (ISMPH) in Ilorin, said the country’s primary healthcare system was in poor state and needed urgent awakening.
Speaking on 'Media As A Strategic Tool in Healthcare Delivery’, Modibo described Lassa fever as a disease of the poor, just as he lamented the poor environmental sanitation and hygiene among people, adding that, there would be improvement in public health with cleanliness caused by availability of potable water.
"Lassa fever is a quintessential disease of the poor, because it is often directly associated with poor communities in rural and urban settlements around Nigeria. I was in primary school in 1969, when the first cases of Lassa fever emerged in present day Borno state. And the re-emergence of the infection in recent months is being associated with the deterioration of primary healthcare and basic sanitation in our rural communities and increasingly over-populated urban settlements", he said.
.jpg)
Modibbo, who said that the nation's public healthcare system left a lot to be desired, added that Nigeria was still grappling with basic indices in public healthcare delivery that clearly underscored our under-development. "The budgeting system is not fair enough and the inadequacy makes it difficult to reach basic targets in healthcare delivery", he said.
The media practitioner, who also said that the media have a very important role in communicating the changes that could help to shape the policy thrust and implementation as they affect the field of public health in Nigeria, added that media practitioners must also become specialist in the field of public health, by knowing very intimately the basic issues in the field.
Also speaking, the coordinator of the public health organisation, Mrs. Moji Makanjuola, a former media practitioner with Nigeria Television Authority(NTA), said the organisation was born to impact positively on quality healthcare of people of the society.
Mrs. Makanjuola, who said that she discovered a gap in health communication and education in her 25 years of health reporting among Nigerian media practitioners, added that the organisation had mapped out activities to bridge the gap to achieve quality healthcare system in the country.
By: Hammed Shittu
This Day Live News
ABUJA: Training Schedule for Basic Life Support BLS, Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support ACLS, First Aid, CPR, AED
PORTHARCOURT: Training Schedule for Basic Life Support BLS, Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support ACLS, First Aid, CPR, AED
LAGOS: Training Schedule for Basic Life Support BLS, Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support ACLS, First Aid, CPR, AED
STOP paying for airtime and electricity, Let your phone pay its bills with ScreenT
You may also like
Comrade Lemii Christian Emerges Chairman of NANNM Rivers State Branch in Historic Victory
PORT HARCOURT, NIGERIA Following the long awaited National Association of N…
FG Supports Robotic Surgery Expansion to Reduce Medical Tourism
Nigeria is taking another step toward strengthening specialised healthcare …
Complete Knee Replacement Rehabilitation Package in Lagos
Knee replacement surgery is a major step toward pain relief and improved mo…
NAMDA threatens strike over unpaid medical lecturers’ allowances
The Nigerian Association of Medical and Dental Academics (NAMDA) has warned…
Resident Doctors Signal End to Strike Threat After High-Level Talks with Gbajabiamila
The threat of a nationwide indefinite strike by the Nigerian Association of…
