Yellow Fever: Edo Govt Adopts Multi-Agency Response, Urges Residents To Embrace Vaccination, Sanitation

The Edo State Government has urged residents in the state to take advantage of the state’s vaccination drive against Yellow Fever disease, assuring of a multi-agency response, in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC).

In a statement issued on Wednesday by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Communication Strategy, Mr. Crusoe Osagie, the state government said that nine cases have been reported in Ekpoma, Ehor and Igieduma towns, assuring that the government is on top of the situation.

He explained that a combined team of experts drawn from WHO and CDC are working with the Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital (ISTH) and the Edo State Epidemiology Team, to contain the outbreak.

Osagie said that an Emergency Response Protocol is being finalised to ensure similar epidemic or pandemics are contained in future.

Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Primary Health Care, Dr. Aanu Fakunle, said that Primary Health Care Centers (PHC) across the state are being repositioned to be the first responders for these kinds of outbreaks.

She emphasised that it was important for parents and children to get vaccinated as that was one of the ways to prevent the ailment

“Other measures include good sanitation as the virus is spread by mosquitoes. So, we encourage people to keep their environment clean by cutting the bushes, draining our gutters, wash their hands and maintain good hygiene.”

She said some symptoms of the virus include, “fever, chills, muscle ache, nose bleeds, diarrhoea among others, before complications set in. Blood samples are then sent to a WHO reference laboratory for confirmation after initial suspicion.

According to her, “We have embarked on capacity building of the PHC staff and expect they are able to identify, manage such cases and refer appropriately. Several PHCs are captured in the EDO-Health Improvement Programme (EDO-HIP) across the state.”