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'Communicable Diseases Account For 75% Outbreak In Communities'


'Communicable Diseases Account For 75% Outbreak In Communities'
 BY CHIKA OKEKE, Abuja
                              Baba

The Registrar of Environmental Health Officers Registration Council of Nigeria (EHORECON), Dr Yakubu Baba has said that communicable diseases account for more than 75 percent of diseases ravaging communities across the country. 

He stated this in Abuja over the weekend during the Expert Panel Discussion Session at the just concluded maiden National Summit on Environmental Health, organised by the council with the theme, "Rebranding Environmental Health Practice: Breaking Barriers, Unlocking Opportunities". 

The session was designed to engage with Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) saddled with the responsibilities of financing human and social development needs of Nigerians, with a view to exposing Environmental Health Practitioners (EHPs) to monetary and technical interventions of President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration. 

Baba insisted that recruiting more professionals would reduce the over-streched health system, as some patients that needed minor treatment ended up at the hospitals due to the breakdown of sanitation infrastructure at the local government level and shortage of Environmental Health Professionals (EHPs) to protect the environment. 

According to him, "The Environmental Health Officers (EHOs) and sanitary inspectors are the policemen of the environment. They have all the powers and privileges of police officers because its only a health officer that is allowed by law to enter into any premises within reasonable hours for inspection without a warrant".

"If you have few personnel to police the environment, it means that the environment and health system will suffer and you will spend more money in providing curative services. The solution lies in recruiting more EHPs", he added. 

The registrar said the major crux of the summit was the possibility of providing environmental health infrastructures to support environmental health services such as offices and equipments at the zonal level.

On professional rivalry, he said though the conflict has been resolved that the current national health policy is promoting one health, which means the integration of health, environment and animal health. 

He was optimistic that integration and interface would provide the solution to Nigeria's health system problems.  

"Our police, the clinicians are busy treating the established cases in our hospitals while the environmental health personnel are busy treating the medium that transmits the diseases such as water, food, soil and air", he added. 

Also speaking, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Ibadan, Dr Oladapo Titus Okareh said that environmental health is a key part of any comprehensive public health system, adding that human actions and choices affect the environment. 

In his presentation titled, "Improving Quality and Increasing Access To Environmental Health Education (EHE)", he stated that EHE is a tool for creating awareness on issues relating to environmental conservation and degradation impact on health. 

Okareh pointed out that improving access to EHE requires holistic approach, saying that rebranding environmental health practise is a necessity.

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