Lagos Warns Against Open Defecation To Curb Spread Of Ebola

Lagos State Commissioner for the Environment, Tunji Bello has urged the people of the state to desist from Environmental Pollution such as defecating and urinating in the public to avert rapid spread of the deadly Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).The commissioner said this at a “One-day Train the Trainers Programme” organized by his Ministry for Environment Health Officers in all the 57 Local Government/LCDAs and Scientific Officers in the State Civil.Bello at programme with the theme: Creating an Army of Advocacy to curb Ebola Virus through Effective Enlightenment at the Grassroots,”
explained that the state government has embarked on series of actions to control the spread since the announcement of the outbreak in Lagos State.According to him, “In order to complement other efforts of Government, the Ministry of the Environment has packaged educative programmes for Lagos Residents starting with the “Train the Trainer” after which an army of these trained officials will embark on mass public enlightenment campaigns to markets, motor parks, Schools in all the 57 Local Government Council Development Areas to create awareness on how to prevent the spread of the dreaded disease.”He pointed out that as the state with a population of over 21 million inhabitants constituted by diverse tribes across the country is home for all.
According to him, the state government needs the support of the health workers who are professionally trained and Scientific Officers to act as health and environmental police to assist in maintaining hygienic environmental standard across the state.Bello added that the residents must cooperate effectively with government and take necessary precautionary measures to contain Ebola Virus Disease in the communities.
The commissioner stressed that Ebola is a highly infectious disease that make those infected very sick and presently has no cure.“As I speak, EVD is now considered an international public health emergency according to world Health Organisation (WHO). Ebola is a very terrifying disease, a killer”, said Bello.He said the only way out of this challenge is for people to embark on preventive measures, saying that is what all our Environmental Health officers and scientific officers will be preaching across the state.
Some of the preventive steps we need to take as individuals and residents of the state include, ensuring the safety of water sources through integrated sanitation; Potentially contaminated materials like blood, sweat, emesis, feces and body secretions should be safely handled“Avoid bush meat. Bush meat is a potential carrier of EVD; Desist from discharging fecal effluent into the drain or adjoining grounds.For Dr. Enigbonkan Olubunmi, an Epidemiologist and a Director in the Lagos State Ministry of Health said the need to keep environment clean cannot, saying identifying an infected person at the early stage is not easy as the incubation period for the Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever takes two days to 21days.