The FCT Department of Public Health, Neglected Tropical Diseases unit, has advised residents of Gwagwalada community to begin to promote personal and environmental hygiene.

Coordinator, NTDs unit, FCT Public Health, Dr Eunice Ogundipe, gave the advice during an outreach for the treatment of schistosomiasis, a disease among the NTDs.

The community outreach was jointly carried out by parasitology, Public Health Society of Nigeria and the Federal Ministry of Health.

Other diseases of NTDs which prompted the visit by the officials at the community are soil transmitted helminthiasis, onchocerciasis (River blindness) and lymphatic filariasis.

Mrs Ogundipe, however, said that Gwagwalada town was one of the endemic towns in the FCT having high cases of schistosomiasis, soil transmitted helminthiasis which could simply be described as intestinal worms.

She said that the town had a high burden for those diseases, adding that the department was also in the town to commemorate the 5th anniversary of World Neglected Tropical Diseases in the FCT.

She added, “We deem it fit to come to Gwagwalada to treat community members to reduce the load of these intestinal worms. There is a need for these people to promote personal and environmental hygiene; everybody is aware now that NTDs strive in an unhygienic environment, a poverty-based environment. NTDs are associated with a community with poor sanitation, poorly built houses, anywhere that there is a lack of good water sources, NTDs strive in all these areas. There is need for the residents of this community to pay attention to their environmental and personal hygiene to lift the burden of NTDs.’’

The theme for the 2024 NTDs day is “We should unite, act to eliminate NTDs.”

She added that the only way to unite, act and eliminate these diseases was by promotion of personal and environmental hygiene.

Chairman, State Technical Advisory Committee for NTDs, Dar Yoila Malam, stated that NTDs infectious diseases were more than 20 in number.

Malam, who is a Professor of Parasitology, University of Abuja, said the officials were in Gwagwalada community to create awareness about those diseases and to mobilise residents to have the knowledge of their prevention.

“Knowledge is key, knowledge is power as it is often said, if the people are mobilised and they know it, there are certain actions they will take that will help in curtailing these diseases and their infection.

If they are infected, there is a cure for it but beyond that, prevention is better than cure; if they know that these diseases are preventable, it becomes easy for them to be infected. What we are trying to say is that personal hygiene is crucial, taking care of their personal hygiene, using a clean toilet, using water to wash their hands effectively before eating and doing some activities will help in curtailing NTDs infection. In FCT, we do disease mapping, we go to communities, verify, and examine what are the prevailing diseases among the NTDs infection that are there. In FCT, we have four of these diseases that are key to our management which we have also given them the knowledge and medicine,” he said.

He also noted that “some community members go to water bodies for different activities; some for swimming, some for bathing, some for fishing, and some for sand harvesting which make them prone to NTDs infectious diseases.

Department of Biological Science, University of Abuja, Dr Comfort Olanrewaju, noted that NTDs were public health challenges and advised the residents of Gwagwalada to be aware of the diseases and take precautionary measures against them.

Ms Olanrewaju who is the FCT chapter coordinator of PPSN, stated that society always researched and looked around for areas where there were some parasites or some diseases of public health concerns.

She said that the society was always taking further steps to inform people about the ways to take and guard against the diseases.

The District Head of Gwagwalada, Mohammed Lakayi, appreciated the officials for the outreach.

Mr Lakayi, who represented the Agoma of Gwagwalada, said the community heads would take further steps to educate the people on hygiene.

(NAN)