By Abdallah el-Kurebe
A Professor of Veterinary Medicine at the Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto (UDUS), Abdulkadir Junaidu has advocated forinter-disciplinary collaboration of health professionals in order to effectively tackle the outbreak of lassa fever.
Junaidu suggested this in Sokoto on Monday as a measure to stop the spread of the lassa fever in parts of the nation.
According to him, “This collaboration should involve medics, veterinarians, laboratory scientists and other health workers. This is what is called one-health concept and all these professionals should be brought on board to deal with the lassa fever outbreaks in some parts of the nation.”
Junaidu called on the three tiers of government to ensure that health facilities at all levels were equipped and staffed with trained health personnel. “Governments at all levels should take drastic measures to curb the menace of rodents. This should be done by ensuring strict compliance with hygiene measures through the recruitment and training of adequate environmental health officers.
While stressing that the measure would ensure strict compliance with hygiene and other sanitary conditions in the country, Junaidu further said that such officers would ensure the routine inspection of residential and commercial areas across the nation.
He noted that 70 to 75 percent of emerging and re-emerging diseases were zoonotic in nature. “This means that they are of animals origin and they include brucellosis, Ebola, lassa fever and Avian Influenza, among others,” Junaidu explained.
