……says 80% out of 200 food, water samples across the states are Infected
By Favour Ulebor, Abuja
To avoid the wild spread of Cholera, the Environmental Health Council of Nigeria, ECHON, has urged Nigerians to avoid eating at restaurants, bukas not certified by Environmental Health Practitioners across the country.
The Registrar ECHON, Yakubu Mohammed Baba said this during a press briefing with Journalists in Abuja.
He said about 80 percent of the food and water samples collected by environmental practitioners are tested positive and infectious; stating that, food vendors must go for compulsory medical screening to make sure they are healthy before being allowed to handle any other preparations.
Baba tasked all Environmental health authorities to create and manage isolation centers and establish disinfection points in the various zones.
He said, “We are quite aware that the Council that regulates environmental health is a key stakeholder in providing pharmaceutical intervention towards cholera outbreak, we are one of the key pillars of providing environmental health prevention pillar as far as the cholera outbreak is concerned. We are quite aware that Nigeria is witnessing another episode of infectious disease outbreak and I want to, on behalf of the Council and the Ministry of Environment, join in commiserating with the people affected so far, especially for those already that lost their lives to this highly infectious disease. Unlike other infectious diseases, cholera is primarily an environmentally-based, induced and environmentally-related infectious disease, occurring in places with low environmental quality standards.
“Let us also avoid eating from places that are not certified by environmental health practitioners across the country. Food vendors must go for compulsory medical screening to make sure they are healthy before being allowed to handle any other preparation. Any person involved in preparation, serving or cooking of food must go as a matter of requirement and the Council is ready to enforce it under the Environmental Health Authority.
“Also, all restaurants must pass through the certification by the local government health authority that their facility is fit to provide food for human consumption. We also encourage all health facilities to put in place the measures I have mentioned above that they should create isolation camps. And we are also calling all EHOs to embark, working in such facilities, to embark on current and concurrent disinfection; What do I mean by current, The current one is continuous as long as patients are in the hospital.
“Lastly, the patient and caregivers must also take the necessary universal precautions because of the infectious nature of the disease. We don’t want to lose any of our health personnel because of negligence. So we are also calling the healthcare givers to make sure they use the necessary protective equipment and also embark on disinfection and five levels of disinfection after visiting the patients. Five level disinfection is normally adopted as standard operation procedure as far as cholera outbreak is concerned.” Baba said.
Speaking on the need to embark on hygiene measures, Baba said, “I am happy to announce that the State Minister of Environment yesterday was in the Federal Executive Council and he took a memo on the need to strengthen environmental health surveillance in the 31 states of the Federation and also activates the Environmental Health Emergency Volunteer Corps that normally handles environmental health emergencies in the state. The clear mandate that is given to them is to make sure that there is massive chlorination of all sources of water in all reported communities across the country. Also, as we speak, the ministry and the council have collected so far over 200 water and food samples.
‘It may interest you to know that more than 80% of those samples collected are positive. Our men in the field are embarking on the creation of awareness and also making sure that all water bodies that are within those reported infected communities are being chlorinated so that the people can have a wholesome water to drink. In conclusion, I would like to implore all Nigerians to adopt the environmental strategy as the surest way of containing this deadly outbreak. It has no cost, it is cheaper and lets us break the transmission chain, Let’s embark on massive hygiene measures in our homes, in our schools and in all public spaces.” He added.
