Akwa Ibom government braces up against Lassa fever outbreak

Dennis Udoma, Uyo

Akwa Ibom State government has begun an awareness campaign targetted at her citizenry as part of efforts to guard against the outbreak of lassa fever epidemic which has been rocking some states of the federation in the past few months.

The State’s Epidemiologist, Dr. Aniekeme Uwah made the disclosure in his office in Uyo on Tuesday saying, though there was no reported case of lassa fever in the state, government was leaving no stone unturned in efforts to prevent its occurrence.

“Right now, there is no case of lassa fever outbreak in Akwa Ibom, though we are aware that the outbreak has spread to about 14 states in the country, the state government is doing everything possible to stop any outbreak”, Dr. Uwah declared.

According to him, “We began awareness campaign since last year when we had our National Lassa Fever Day on September 27, 2015.

“Besides, we have done a lot in terms of producing flyers, erection of bill boards, news commentaries on radio and periodic meetings with disease surveillance/notification personnel for them to continue with their regular surveillance activities.

“So with the recent outbreak, we are just trying to build on what we had already started by erecting more bill boards in three major languages in the state and making radio jingles to deepen the awareness amongst the people”.

Other measure he listed are: border surveillance by the rapid response team around neighbouring communities with Rivers State, to watch out for any suspected case, personal protection equipment (PPE) and isolation centers at IDH, Ikot Ekpene and the University Teaching Hospital (UUTH), Uyo.

Dr. Uwah also assured that, a meeting of health stakeholders in the state to be presided over by the commissioner for health is slated for today (Wednesday) to discuss the way forward and how to prevent the menace.

Representatives of World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Children’s Education Fund (UNICEF) and other major Non Governmental Organizations are also expected to be part of the meeting, Dr. Uwah stated.