UNICEF seeks stakeholders’ support to eradicate Neglected Tropical Diseases in Nigeria
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has sought the support of stakeholders in eliminating Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) in Nigeria.
Mr Monday Johnson, UNICEF Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) specialist, made the call in Lagos at a two-day media dialogue on ending open defecation in Nigeria and eradicating Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs).
He said NTDs were diverse group of conditions caused by a variety of pathogen(including viruses, bacterial, parasites, fungi, toxins) and associated with devastating health, social and economic consequences.
Referencing the Nigeria master plan for NTDs 2023-2027, Johnson said that the country had the highest NDTs burden in Africa, with more than 200 million people at the risk of at least one of the diseases.
Johnson, however, said that said that WASH were critical in the prevention and care for all the 17 NTDs.
The UNICEF WASH expert noted that NTDs were associated with poverty and prevalent in areas that have poor sanitation, inadequate or no safe water sources and substandard housing condition.
Johnson said that NTDs and poor access to WASH contributed to a vicious cycle of poverty and disease, adding that NTDs could lead to catastrophic health expenditure and reduced economic productivity.
He said the goal of the NTDs programme was to progressively reduce morbidity, disability, and mortality due to NTDs using integrated and cost effective approaches with the view to eliminating NTDs in Nigeria by 2030.
Johnson noted that to eliminate NTDs by 2030, there was the need for behavioural change among the people by embracing the use of toilet and avoid open defecation.
He said that achieving open defecation free Nigeria should include the use of any form of improved toilets that prevent exposure of faeces to the environment with the aim of moving up the sanitation ladder.
He advised people to always cultivate the habit of disposing faeces(human and animal) in the toilet and avoid urinating in the river, lake or pond, among other measures.
In his remarks, Mr Dare Olatunji, Sanitation and Hygiene Manager, Water Aid, said adequate provision of potable water and clean hygiene were important in achieving open defecation free Nigeria.
Mrs Chizoma Opara, a Deputy Director, Federal Ministry of Water Resources and Sanitation, said that only 18 per cent of Nigerians, that is 37 million people, have access to safely managed sanitation services.
Opara, who is also the National Coordinator of the Clean Nigeria Campaign, noted that that national vision was that by 2030, every Nigerian would have access to safely managed sanitation, hygiene facilities in cities, small town and rural communities
