By Joyce Remi-Babayeju
The National Orientation Agency , NOA, has scaled up a campaign in six states against the upsurge of seasonal infectious diseases.
In a directive to Heads of States offices of the Agency the Director General of the Agency, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu said that lack of awareness about preventive measures to diseases often contributes to yearly recurrences of the epidemics in the country.
The NOA DG noted that instances Cerebral Spinal Meningitis is often caused by changes in weather, resulting in extreme heat, especially around the northern part of the country.
The campaign against Lassa Fever which began around August 2024 was sensitisation on the spread of CSM which results from extreme heat waves, while the rise of cholera follows the flow of open defecation into water bodies, which serve as source of water to several communities in Nigeria.
The integrated campaign is expected to take off in April as the rainy season sets in the DG said.
According to the agency, the first stage of the integrated Campaign started from selected states of the six (6) geo-political zones in Nigeria namely; Ondo, Edo, Kogi, Taraba, Benue, Bauchi and Ebonyi state as shown by epidemiological data from the National Centre for Disease Control.
The campaign expectedly will spread to Yobe and Borno states where reports of CSM outbreaks were earlier recorded.
The Agency also highlighted some preventive measures citizens can observe to reduce the spread of these infectious diseases, they include;Taking personal hygiene seriously; Regular washing of hands with sanitiser or soap; safe processing of food; and general environmental sanitization.
Daybreak reports that the core objective of the campaign is educating citizens on basic personal hygiene to mitigate the spread of these diseases.
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