Sokoto Govt initiates community dialogue to combat child killer diseases

The Sokoto State Ministry of Health says it has begun a community dialogue to create awareness on the menace of child killer diseases.

The state Commissioner for Health, Dr Balarabe Shehu, said that the measure was part of the efforts to fight against the child killer diseases in the state.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the six killer diseases are: polio, tuberculosis, pertussis (whooping cough), measles, tetanus and diphtheria.

Diphtheria is a potentially fatal contagious bacterial infection that mainly affects the nose and throat, and sometimes the skin.

Shehu said that the dialogue was aimed at enlightening the populace on the preventable measures to take against the diseases.

”Some of the measures of preventing the killer diseases include environmental sanitation, attending antenatal clinics by pregnant women, immunisation of under-five children against polio and other vaccine preventable diseases,’’ he said.

The commissioner appealed to husbands to allow their wives to visit hospitals for antenatal care.

Shehu also advised them to encourage their wives to take their infants to the nearest health centres for immunisation against the child killer diseases.

The Chairman of Sokoto South Local Government, Alhaji Aminu Liman, lauded the efforts of the ministry for initiating the community dialogue.

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Liman promised to collaborate with the ministry to take the campaign to the rural communities.

Also, Alhaji Almustapha Othman, the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, said that the state government had procured adequate drugs for distribution free to children and breastfeeding mothers.

Alhaji Jibo Dan- Malam, the District Head of Tudun Wada, promised to mobilise his subjects to access healthcare services.