By Muhammad Amaan
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Bauchi Field Office has urged media practitioners to remain consistent in raising public awareness about Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) to support efforts toward eliminating the scourge.
The UNICEF Chief of Field Office in Bauchi, Dr Nuzhat Rafique, made the call during a one-day media engagement on NTDs on Thursday in Bauchi.
Dr Rafique said the media played a critical role in sensitising the public to prevention, treatment, and participation in regular health campaigns targeting NTDs such as river blindness and trachoma.
She explained that consistent and accurate media reporting could influence positive health behaviour and increase participation in mass drug administration and hygiene promotion exercises across communities.
The UNICEF official commended the Federal and State Ministries of Health for their ongoing interventions aimed at eradicating NTDs in Bauchi State and neighbouring areas.
She also urged the public to adopt timely health-seeking behaviour and intensify efforts to prevent mosquito and fly breeding, which transmit some of the diseases.
Dr Rafique said poverty was a major driver of NTDs and called for collaborative efforts among government agencies, development partners, and the media to eliminate the diseases completely.
She noted that Bauchi and Gombe States were close to achieving the elimination targets and stressed that increased awareness would help sustain progress toward the goal.
In her presentation, the North-East Coordinator of the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Hajiya Hauwa Abubakar, identified schistosomiasis as the second leading cause of death after malaria in the region.
Hajiya Hauwa Abubakar said NTDs contributed to poor educational outcomes, low productivity, and weakened immunity, adding that they also caused malnutrition, stigma, and discrimination within affected communities.
She emphasised the need for sustained surveillance and public enlightenment to strengthen disease prevention and control, especially in vulnerable communities.
According to her, six common NTDs affecting Nigerians include lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, trachoma, schistosomiasis, trichinosis, and hookworm, noting that house-to-house drug administration campaigns were being implemented to combat them.
Also speaking, the State Coordinator for NTDs at the Bauchi State Primary Health Care Development Board, Mr Haruna Wakili, said health posts had been established along state borders to support the elimination effort.
Mr Wakili noted that snakebite was also classified among NTDs and called for expanded media coverage to increase awareness and reduce fatalities linked to the condition.
He added that the state had intensified its health promotion campaign to sustain the elimination drive and commended UNICEF for its continued support and partnership with the media.
