DSTG COMMITTED TO CURBING THE SPREAD OF LASSA FEVER - DR OKOBAH

Delta State Government has reiterated its commitment to curb the spread of Lassa Fever in the State.

The Chairman, Delta State Primary Health Care Development Agency (DSPHCDA), Dr Isioma Okobah, stated this during a sensitization visit to Achalla Ibusa Community, in Oshimili North Local Government Area.

Dr Okobah said that the DSPHCDA was partnering with the Federal Medical Centre, (FMC), Asaba, to educate the public on the issue of Lassa Fever in line with the SMART Agenda of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa on health.

The Chairman advised Deltans not to panic over the recent record of Lassa Fever in the state but to heed the advice on preventing the spread.

She said that the Okowa administration was passionate about the health of all Deltans and was doing everything possible to ensure that Lassa Fever did not spread in the State, emphasizing that only a healthy person could create wealth.

Dr Okobah urged anyone with malaria symptoms such as fever, sore throat, difficulty in swallowing, cough, headache and chest pain, or other severe symptoms including swelling of the face, eye, neck and hand, bloody diarrhoea or bleeding from any opening in the body, to visit the nearest health centre or hospital.

The Chairman also used the occasion to explained that Delta State Contributory Health Scheme was aimed at providing affordable health for all Deltans, as well as the free treatment for children aged 0-5 years, sixty years and above, and the pregnant women, courtesy of the Governor Okowa administration.

A Public Health Physician at FMC, Asaba, Dr Ann Ojimba urged the people to take preventive measures of throwing away food suspected to have been eaten by rats, not to spread food items along the roadside and avoid eating or touching of rats whether dead or alive.

According to Dr Ojimba rate could be kept away from our surroundings through clearing of bushes around our homes,, disposing waste properly, setting traps around the house and blocking all holes to prevent entrance of rats.

Dr Ojimba listed other precautionary measures to include covering food items and water properly, cooking food properly, washing hands with soap and water before handling food items and after using the toilet or returning from public places, as well as avoiding ceremonies involving touching sick or dead infected persons or the secretions from their body.

The Primary Healthcare Coordinator, Oshimili North, Mrs. Eyemisan Ochei noted that Lassa fever could be contracted by contact with human wound, food and water, contaminated with faeces or urine of rats, while an infected person could spread the disease when their bodily fluids such as urine, vomit, faeces, blood, sperm or clothing, came in contact with others.

The Achalla Ibusa Community leaders thanked the state Government and FMC Asaba for the enlightenment, saying that they were declaring war against rats