MITOSATH Chief Scores Lagos Govt 1st To Implement Mass Administration Of Medicine Against Schistosomiasis Using Ward Level Strategy

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By; MATTHEW UKACHUNWA, Lagos

Lagos State is the first State in Nigeria to implement Mass Administration of Medicines against Schistosomiasis using ward level strategy.
Executive Director of Mission to Save the Helpless (MITOSATH), Dr. Fransisca Olamiju, made the above declaration in Lagos on Wednesday.

Olamiju stressed that the strategy has been found to be very effective.
“We were worried initially that Lagos State is coming into the NTDs Mass Administration of Medicines late but when the State stepped in, they showed that in anything they do, they excel beautifully,” she said 

The MITOSATH chief said this at a Data Dissemination Workshop on Schistosomiasis Implementation which was held in Lagos on Wednesday, as reported in a news statement by Tunbosun Ogunbanwo, Director of Public Affairs in Lagos State Ministry of Health.
 According to her, the dissemination workshop has afforded various NTD stakeholders and partners the opportunity to share the knowledge, best practices, and lessons learnt from implementation of Mass Administration of Medicines in Lagos State.
Olamiju added that the implementation of Mass Administration of Medicines afforded the State government and implementing partners the opportunity to introduce ward level strategy interventions which have been found to be successful for immunization programmes and other health interventions alongside the local government area-based (LGA) intervention.
“So based on the advice we got from WHO (World Health Organization) and the Federal Ministry of Health, we started to use ward based strategy. Today, Lagos is getting an outstanding performance award for achieving a therapeutic coverage of close to 87%. This goes to show that the ward based strategy intervention is effective. So it is something exciting for us and we are happy also because the partners that funded the campaign are also here to celebrate this success”, she said.
While noting that another campaign for Mass Administration of Medicines against Schistosomiasis would soon commence in some endemic wards in Lagos State, the Executive Director posited that safe water, good sanitation and hygiene especially proper and regular hand washing practice including putting an end to open defecation is vital to eliminating Schistosomiasis.
 Olamiju appealed for a private sector engagement for the elimination of the disease adding that they should always remember that there is NTD burden in Lagos as they look at their corporate social responsibility.
 Representative of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Sulaiman Aliyu, said that WHO remains committed to providing free medicines for the treatment of Neglected Tropical diseases as its usual practice.
“The World Health Organization is committed to providing all the medicines. Year after year WHO facilitates the donation of millions of tablets for the Neglected Tropical Diseases” Aliyu said.

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