BY CHIKA OKEKE, Abuja
The Dean, Faculty of Public Health, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Prof Godson Ana has described mosquito as one of the leading causes of cerebral hemorrhage, liver problems, body weakness and low birth weight in unborn children.
To this end, he cautioned Nigerians against poor hygiene and storage of stagnant waters, adding that more funds should be appropriated for environmental and sanitation related control measures.
He stated this in an interview with newsmen on Wednesday in Abuja, on the sidelines of the 2023 World Mosquito Day (WMD) symposium organised by the Environmental Health Council of Nigeria (EHCON) in collaboration with Pest Control Association of Nigeria (PECAN) with the theme: "Fighting the World's Deadliest Killer–The Mosquito".
Ana, who is also the President of Environmental Health Scientists Association of Nigeria harped on the need for strict enforcement of sanitation laws and related programmes in the community.
The don noted that mosquito affects pregnant woman, leads to school absenteeism, loss of manhour and decrease in productivity as well as economic loss for health care interventions.
He pointed out that mosquito is a leading cause of preventable fatality in vulnerable populations, saying that most of the deaths occurred in children under the age of five years.
Research revealed that mosquito causes at least 2.7 million deaths every year and about 500 million cases of mosquito-borne diseases occur annually.
With over 3,500 species of mosquitoes, 90 percent of mosquito-borne illnesses occur in Africa, just as the most prominent diseases linked to mosquitoes include malaria, West Nile virus, yellow fever, dengue, chikungunya, and Zika virus.
Ana disclosed that the yellow fever outbreak in Congo led to 7, 334 suspected cases and 498 deaths, noting that in 1999, the West Nile virus spread across the United States, causing hundreds of deaths annually.
"Dengue fever is the most prevalent viral infection transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes. More than 3.9 billion people in over 129 countries are at risk of contracting dengue.
"There are an estimated 96 symptomatic cases and over 40, 000 deaths annually," he added.
He informed that the Zika virus epidemic infected more than one million people, leading to birth defects in thousands of infants from 2015 to 2016.
The environmentalist encouraged the Federal and State governments to measure up with research and development in order to catch up with the global community.
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