The Federal Government through its Health Ministry has decried the poor response by parents, guardians and caregivers availing their children for mass administration of drug in preventing Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs).
Director, Snake Envenoming Unit, NTDs Division at the Federal Ministry of Health, Fatai Oyediran made this known during a community outreach for the treatment of schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminthiasis in Abuja on Wednesday.
He appealed to parents, others to allow health workers to administer deworming drugs to children for the prevention of these diseases. “We advise parents to cooperate with health workers”, he said.
Adding that some parents, probably due to personal or religious beliefs, prevent children from taking the drugs which he said it does more damage than good.
“We also encourage them to allow health workers to give drugs to children whenever they come for mass drug administration,” Oyediran said.
The Director noted that NTDs often affected people in rural communities, especially the poor because of poor personal hygiene, inadequate water supply and infrastructure at the grassroots.
“Some of these diseases affect children under the age of five and that is why we target communities and schools to give free drugs”, he said.
National Coordinator, NTDs, Federal Ministry of Health, Dr Nse Akpan reiterated the commitment of the ministry to reduce NTDs-induced morbidity and mortality by ensuring children were administered with deworming drugs.
According to him, “If we work together to eliminate NTDs in the country, then we will be free of their challenges. We want every sectors the media, education, community, traditional religious and others to be key players in eliminating NTDs.
“It is a multi-sector approach. If we all put our hands together, we will be able to eliminate these diseases,” Dr Akpan stressed.
NTDs Coordinator in the Federal Capital Territory FCT, Dr Eunice Ogundipe said the outreach and the NTDs Day celebration was a call for all stakeholders to collaborate to eliminate the diseases in totality.
“We are here to sensitise and create awareness in this school and its environment. We shall go to various communities for mobilisation, awareness creation and sensitisation.
“We want community ownership of the programme and we want to have more participants in our mass administration of medicines. If communities buy into programme, we will achieve results. It will allow people know about NTDs and know that everybody is at risk,” she said.
Head Teacher at the Local Education Authority Primary School, Durumi I, Abuja, where the outreach held, Mrs Helen Adejayan appreciated the Government and development partners’ efforts at improving the health of children.
Meanwhile, the theme for the 2023 NTDS Day is: “Act now, Act Together, Invest in NTDs.’’ While Highlights of the outreach were the administration of deworming drugs in children and the distribution of writing and other materials to them.