By Ovat Abeng
Anambra State Government has commemorated the 2024 Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) Day.
Addressing a press conference to mark the day in Awka, on Thursday, the State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Afam Ben Obidike represented by the Director of Public Health in the Ministry, Dr. Anaeme Afam, who said that the day is being celebrated annually on the 30th of January, revealed that this year’s event marks the fifth celebration of NTD in the state.
Dr. Obidike noted that the day was another opportunity for relevant stakeholders to renew their focus in expanding advocacy and sensitization on the debilitating but preventable diseases of poverty, and revealed that Nigeria suffers Africa’s largest burden of neglected tropical diseases as almost all the local government areas in Nigeria have one cases of NTD or another.
The Commissioner made it clear that the 2024 theme of the celebration which is “Unite To Act Towards Elimination Of NTD’s” was a global call for all persons, communities, organizations and all nations to join hands in the fight against the disease to ensure possible elimination and eradication by the year 2030.
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He further said that out of the four preventive chemotherapy NTD’s under intervention, Anambra in collaboration with Carter Centre has successfully interrupted the transmission of two including river blindness and lymphatic filariasis through mass drug administration and vector control programs, and commended Governor Chukwuma Soludo for all his support to the ministry.
The Programme Officer, Anambra State for the Carter Center, Mrs. Attamah Egeonu who said that NTD’s are wreaking havoc in the society, added that they have been doing intervention on it since 1995 and called on all hands to be on deck to eradicate it.
The State Coordinator of Reproductive Health, Dr. Uju Okoye, the Head, Planning, Research and Statistics, in the Ministry of Health, Mrs. Edith Nwachukwu, the State Health Educator, Mrs. Uju Onwuegbusi among others attended the event.
The conference also featured presentation of prizes to best Community Directed Distributors (CDD) and road walk.
