By Dennis Udoma, Uyo
Total Exploration and Production, Port-Harcourt District has ended a One-Day Healthy Living Awareness Campaign at Ikot Abasi Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom tagged, ‘‘Tuberculosis Awareness’’ to sensitize communities in the area on the disease.
The Deputy-Managing Director of the company, Mr Francois Le-Cocq, while welcoming participants to the programme jointly organized by the NNPC/TEPNG Joint Venture said, the healthy living awareness exercise is staged annually as a key public health project to support its host communities in the Niger-Delta.
He said, the objective of the programme was to raise awareness of the people on the topical public health concerns in line with the theme for 2018.
The MD, who was speaking through the Manager, Community Affairs, Engr. Okechukwu Obara maintained that, tuberculosis which has wrecked great havoc in recent times was caused by a bacteria called mycobacterium tuberculosis that often affects the lungs.
He noted that, it could be contacted through close contact or air and stated that, statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO) listed Nigeria among the 30 countries in the world with high burden of tuberculosis, while the national tuberculosis prevalence survey also estimated that 570,000 persons in Nigeria come down with the disease each year.
Mr Le-Cocq explained that, it was against this background and as a demonstration of TEPNG’s commitment to the comprehensive well-being of the people of the state and communities that it continued to support the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) action on public health education to draw attention to the easily overlooked public health concerns and lifestyles that can deprive the people of their wellness and confine them to sickbeds in hospitals with fatal consequences.
According to him, ‘‘most illnesses get worse for the simple reason that the victims were not aware of the ailments.
“The physical exercise session, screening and presentations that will be made today are aimed at creating this awareness and will also attempt to identify people who are predisposed to tuberculosis,’’ he said and called on the people to take advantage of the knowledge provided by the programme to encourage others to embrace a healthy lifestyle change.
He also thanked the NNPC/JV Partners, community stakeholders and Akwa Ibom State Government for their support and cooperation.
Earlier, the programme facilitator and Director of Uyahim Medical Nigeria Limited, Associate Professor Effiong Eyo Ekpe enlightened the participants on the dangers of tuberculosis and proffered ways to diagnose and prevent the disease.
Prof. Effiong dismissed the claims that TB was an incurable disease noting that, with early detection and comprehensive testing, free medication could be obtained in hospitals free of charge.
The Village Head of Ikot Obong in Ikot Abasi Local Government Area, Eteidung Gordon Etokeren thanked Total Exploration and Production for the gesture and prayed God’s guidance for the management to continue to render people oriented services.
Most of the participants expressed happiness for the healthy living awareness programme and urged the company to extend the policy to containing the malaria scourge in the society.
High point of the event was a general blood screening exercise for the participants.
It would be recalled that, the Healthy Living Awareness campaigns was also carried out by Total E&P for host communities in Oron in 2017 and Eastern Obolo local government Areas of Akwa Ibom in 2016, where people benefited from, among others, free medical diagnosis, eye tests, provision of eye glasses and drugs.
