NMA makes suggestions on how to end lassa fever in Nigeria

Wantsgovt to refurbish, increase number of labs able to diagnose virus
Doctorsunderthe umbrella of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) have made recommendationsto the Federal Government on how to stop the Lassa fever epidemic spreading acrossthe country.
The NMA urged thefederal governmentto continuein the good effortsthat It has brought tothe presentepidemic; get the remaining three reported laboratories in the country that is able to identifythe Lassa fever virus to full operation and/or establish new ones to augment these.
The association said this is veryimportant in theCalabar-Enugu-Makurdi -Yola-Maiduguri axis of the country to augment the presently functioning ones in Lagos, Ibadan, Irrua, Port Harcourt, Abuja and Kano.
President NMA, Dr.Kayode Obembe, in a statementyesterday, said nobody need to panic on the matternow because the Federal Governmentand her Minister and Ministry of Health have risen up and are performing up to taskon this matterso far – sincethe notification of the disease came to their attention.
The NMA said Individual states, local governments,communities, societies, families and individuals should rise up and reciprocate theseresponsesby doing the following: Listen tothe radios, TV and othermass media and keepthemselvesproperly informedon the presentLassa situation in the country as well as especially what you should do in the interval.
The doctorswant Nigerians toimprove their personal hygieneas well as help their relatives, neighbours and friends to do the same.
Other recommendationsby the NMA include: “Ensure that your house is free from rats, all foodsand drinks properly coveredand/or stored, as may be needed.
“Encourage all casesof feversto attenda medical and properly manned health facility veryearly. Do not eatrats and improve rat control in your personal houses. Ensure that everybodyin your family improves on their personal and group hygiene.
“Do not partake in food drying in the streets, roads and such otherplaces open for bush rat visitations. Ensurethat all feversor illnesses with symptomsare taken promptly to medical facilities for early diagnosis and treatment as appropriate.”
Obembe said Lassa fever, in thevast majority (some 80 per cent) of cases, passes on un-noticed– with mild fevers, body aches, tiredness, loss of appetite, and so on, as for many locally common diseases; and so, remain unnoticed.
He further explained: “However in severe cases, thesewill progress with sore throat, cough, vomiting, diarrhoea and unexplained bleeding from different body openings such as nose, anus, vagina and many othersas a resultof damage ofmany body organs caused by this virus. In thesecases, mortality (death) rates from thedisease may rise rapidly to high levelsof up to 50 per centor more. Late reporting or hiding cases of thedisease at homeand so multiplying the infection is usually the reasonfor thesetypesof high mortality rates.
“Hospital or otherman-to-man transmission of theinfection follow contamination with foodor body fluid transfers, providing the reasonswhy homemembersand health workerswherever Lassa fever subjectsexist or are taken for came must all practice the highestlevels of personal and/or professional hygiene.
“Outside of Bauchi, Kano, Nasarawa, Niger, Edo and the other statesin which the current epidemicsare noted, all should know that no statein Nigeria should relax that they are not involved or affected.Lassa fever is not exclusive toany statebecause of therandom population-mixing pattern in thecountry.”
The NMA said all the stateshave the potential tobe at risk of being affectedif theyneglect to observebasic personal and communal hygienic practices atthe individual, family and communitylevels.
For the communities, Obembe recommended: “Encourage thecessation of free bush burning in your communities.Discourage the drying of foodmaterials in the open streetsand roads. Help to seethat all casesof fevers(and other symptomsas listed above) are reported early tohospitals and that your village and Local GovernmentArea (LGA) Health and DevelopmentCommitteesassist to ensurethat your hospitals and health centresare equipped, staffedand made torun properly especially in regard of Lassa and other epidemicdiseases.”
To local governments, theNMA recommended: “Ensure that your health facilities are staffed, equipped and run properly in regard ofLassa and othersuch epidemic diseases. See to it that all rampant bushes burning in the LGA are stoppedor reasonably controlled. Ensure that thedrying or cassava, yam and otherfood chips on the roads and streetsis stopped completelyor atleast reasonably controlled.
“Help to seethat all feversin the LGA go tothe health facilities very early and that all modifiable diseases are so notified by the health facilities in your LGA.”
The NMA called on stategovernmentsto increaseyour public education especially in all state-owned mass media; increase disease notification and surveillance activities, especially in regard of Lassa and the other epidemicdiseases.
The association wants Governors to endeavor toresuscitatetheirstatehospitals for infectious diseases – as Lagos State has atYaba and which played such tremendousrole in the curtailing of the Ebola epidemic of 2014 in the country. Obembe also want them to seekto establishtheirstatePrimary Health
Care Agencies as soon as possible; optimise them and seektofully operationalise the ward-based PHC systemwith community nurse-midwives at thesewards as well as the medical officer ofhealth for each LGA, besides theother health facility-based health workers.
The NMA charged health workers: “Please rememberthat this is your vocation; and a challenge like this one is actually an opportunity todo your bestand to shine. Revise your training in the infectious diseases and standard and universal precautionsin theseregards and do so all ofthe time and with every patientcare.”