From Richard Akintade
Due to the current wave of cholera outbreak in Lagos State, Environmental Health Officers Association of Nigeria, EHOAN, Lagos State Chapter, yesterday, cautioned residents on the need to be careful and take proper preventive action.
President of the association, Sanitarian Akinyele Babasope made this known in a press statement issued on behalf of the association and made available to newsmen.
Akinyele, who urged residents to step up efforts in ensuring that their environments are clean, advised those who develop symptoms such as diarrhoea and vomiting to report to approved health facilities immediately.
The president also reiterated the readiness of the association to collaborate with the state government to avert the epidemic, adding that health workers will continue to maintain a high index of suspicion for cholera and other diseases, while consistently observing standard protocols for infection prevention and control.
The outbreak is as a result of some people’s habit of defecating in and around open places, as well as those discharging their feacal matter into the drainage which is harmful to humans. It causes contamination of water and food, especially when people defecate in an open environment, during the rainy season, most of the water sources become contaminated, he explained.
He said the water people use for drinking and other day-to-day activities become contaminated which subsequently resulted in cholera outbreak and other diseases.
He appealed to members of the public to own the process by ensuring that proper toilet facilities are provided in residences and when people are outdoors, public toilets or mobile toilets must be used.
“I want to emphasize the importance of maintaining good hygiene and taking proactive measures to prevent cholera outbreak in order to ensure the health and well-being of citizens”, he said.
It would be recalled that cases of severe gastroenteritis have been reported in communities around Lagos Island, Eti-Osa, Ikorodu and Kosofe Local Government Areas, resulting in about 60 hospital admissions and sadly, five persons have been reported dead mainly from patients presenting late with extreme dehydration.
EHOAN called on heads of the Department of Environmental Health Services across the 20 LCDAs to immediately start sensitisation on how to curb the spread of cholera outbreak.
