Lagos Council Begins House-to-house Campaign against Lassa Fever

Lagos Council Begins House-to-house Campaign against Lassa Fever

Sunday Okobi

Environmental Health Officials in Agege Local Government Area of Lagos State has begun a house-to-house sensitisation campaign against possible outbreak of Lassa fever in the state.

In a statement signed by the media aide to the council Chairman, Mr. Rotimi Sulyman, which was made available to journalists in Lagos, the council Chairman, Alhaji Ganiyu Egunjobi, said:  "Although we don’t have any case of the disease in Agege now, we must be at alert, show concern and take into account the extroverted nature of Lagosians.”

Egunjobi who stated the readiness of the health workers in the council area to combat the deadly fever, said: "Also, there is this proverbial Agege's rat that is said to be a fast runner, so we must be proactive and aggressive towards creating awareness for our people and be ready to combat it in case it comes up.”

The council boss said the sensitisation programme was sequel to the fresh outbreak of Lassa fever which led to the death of two patients at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH).

Egunjobi in the statement noted that "a hundred workers of the government-owned hospitals, who came in contact with Lassa Fever are currently under surveillance, and all hands must be on deck to curb its spread.

"Already, a resident doctor from the Department of Anatomic and Molecular Pathology, who was involved in the autopsy conducted on their bodies and three health workers have been diagnosed with the disease and presently on admission. So we have to be on alert going by the nature of our society which is congested."

The council chairman said the focus of the house-to-house campaign was on personal and environmental sanitation aimed at intensifying preparation against any eventuality of an outbreak.

He said his administration would address the sanitation challenges in the area, and strategise to keep the area clean and healthy.

According to him, during the ongoing exercise, the council's health workers would sensitise households and market women on cleanliness and healthy lifestyle, “by keeping our houses and environment, including gutters, clean all the time.”

However, the Lagos State Epidemiology Unit following the fresh outbreak directed all local government areas and LCDAs in Ikorodu believed to be where the remains of the two Lassa fever victims were taken to for burial, to list names of people who had contact with their bodies right from LUTH.

According to the directives, "All Heads of departments in lkorodu council area and the five LCDAs are hereby alerted to swing into immediate action to list all contacts with the body from the hospital to their destination.

"They should also prevent the body from being buried at home," the statement added.