5m people at risk of river blindness, other diseases in Kaduna

Kaduna State government has said over five million people in the state are at risk of River blindness, lymphatic filariasis, bilharziasis and intestinal worms. The Commissioner for Health, Hajiya Umma K. Ahmad, disclosed this at a press conference commemorating the 2024 World Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) held at the health ministry in Kaduna on Tuesday. […]

Kaduna State government has said over five million people in the state are at risk of River blindness, lymphatic filariasis, bilharziasis and intestinal worms.

The Commissioner for Health, Hajiya Umma K. Ahmad, disclosed this at a press conference commemorating the 2024 World Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) held at the health ministry in Kaduna on Tuesday.

She explained that the state government has been collaborating and working with all relevant stakeholders, particularly NGOs such as SIGHTSAVERS, to tackle the menace of NTDs in the state.

According to her, Kaduna State government is currently charting a new course of community engagement to tackle Neglected Tropical Diseases for sustainable development.

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She said over the years, the country has been seriously battling to eliminate tropical diseases by taking various measures such as conducting mass administration of medicines, morbidity management and disability prevention, integrated vector control, sound sanitation, hygiene practices with safe water supply, among others.

She added that every January 30th has been set aside by the World Health Organization (WHO) to sensitize all global communities on the burden of NTDs, which affects more than one billion people across the globe, with about 149 countries faced with these diseases and Africa bearing about half of the global burden.

The commissioner further stated that Nigeria is the country with the second-highest burden of NTDs in the world and also contributes the highest burden in Africa, with more than 120 million of its people living at risk of one neglected tropical disease or another. According to her, the day would help the government to focus on millions of people who have limited or no access to prevention, treatment and care services.

She said substantial progress has been made over the decade as evidenced by the fact that they have been able to interrupt the transmission of onchocerciasis in 16 LGAs and elimination of trachoma in the state according to the Trachoma Prevalence Survey Report of 2023.

Other achievements of the ministry, she said,  include the annual deworming of school-aged children and mass drug administration on Lymphatic filariasis and schistosomiasis across the 23 LGAs of the state, among others.