By Asma’u Ahmad
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has called on Nigerians to adopt environmental sanitation towards prevention of infectious diseases in their domains.
The Chief Executive Officer, NCDC, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, made the call in an interview with newsmen in Abuja. Ihekweazu said that most factors leading to transmission of communicable diseases could be prevented through hand washing, keeping clean environment, boiling water before drinking and avoiding open defecation.
Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu
He however added that the most effective preventive measure in public health was vaccination. “We can protect ourselves by ensuring our environment is kept clean always, washing our hands regularly, avoid open defecation, ensure food is well cooked and stored, boil water before drinking and avoid self- medication.
“There are effective vaccines for diseases like measles, meningitis, yellow fever, typhoid fever etc. “These vaccines are available as part of the routine immunisation schedule in the country and are freely available at primary health care centres,” he said
Ihekweazu said that NCDC would continue to support state governments and stakeholder in the health sector to prepare for response to disease outbreaks.
He said that during outbreaks, NCDC usually worked with National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) to plan and implement reactive vaccination campaigns for specific diseases.
He also stressed the importance of avoiding self-medication and the need for Nigerians to attend health care centres for testing, especially before treating fevers.
He said that the NCDC had a National Reference Laboratory in Abuja coordinating the diagnosis of epidemic prone diseases.
