Plans to engage the services of community volunteers in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic has been unveiled by the Nigerian government as efforts towards seeing economic activities continue while combating the virus is gradually making progress. The government is set to embark on a on house-to-house sensitisation to educate people on the dangers associated with COVID-19 and how it spreads. This information was revealed by the Nigerian Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, on Tuesday, June 2, 2020, during the briefing on COVID-19 by the Presidential Task Force (PTF). Osagire disclosed that the ministry in a bid to put all modalities in place is working with the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, (NPHCDA).
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Commenting further, the minister noted that the target areas were ”high burden” Local Government Areas in the country especially owing to the fact that as much as 20 LGAs in Nigeria contribute close to 60 percent of positive cases of coronavirus in Nigeria. Stating that a team from the Federal Ministry of Health is on an appraisal visit to Lagos State which will also see them conduct a situation analysis, Osagire emphasised that the COVID-19 burden is not evenly distributed in Nigeria because Lagos and Kano had more burden when compared to other states of the federation. The team will on the same mission visit the contiguous Ogun State as the government is fully committed to improving measures towards the fight against COVID-19.
The visits are in continuation of similar useful initiatives in the past to Kano, Katsina, Sokoto, Jigawa, Gombe, and Borno, to share experience and ideas, align strategy and support each other
–Osagire Ehanire
Efforts towards involving community volunteers in the fight against COVID-19 became paramount as it became clear that rural areas in the country were begining to be seriously affected as the rate of community transmission has increased. The chairman of the Gombe State Task Force on COVID-19, Idris Mohammed, stated that two of the seven deaths recorded in the state had no travel history, a pointer to the fact that community transmission is a new issue to tackle.
Although we have managed to keep Gombe communities safe for well over two months now because of the proactive steps taken by the government, there is now a clear evidence of community transmission of the COVID-19 because two of the seven deaths recorded in the state are individuals who have not travelled out of the state
–Idris Mohammed
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Also, the Enugu State Government today, Thursday, June 4, 2020, alerted residents that the state was gradually moving into the community transmission stage of the virus. Dr. Obi Emmanuel Ikechukwu, the Commissioner of Health for the state pointed out that some of the new positive cases of coronavirus in the coal-rich state had no travel history, indicating that community transmission is highly looming in the state. Information from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Wednesday, June 3, 2020, saw cases of coronavirus in Nigeria hit 11,166 after 348 new positive cases in the country.
Sources
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allafrica.com
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