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Council Commends FG Over Ebola Containment

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The Environmental Officers Registration Council of Nigeria (EHORECON) has lauded the Federal Government for their efforts in containing the  Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in Nigeria.

The chairman of EHORECON, Prof Oladapo Afolabi, made this known at the opening of the Thematic Mandatory Continuing Education Programme for registered Environmental Health Officers in Calabar, Cross River State.

Afolabi who was represented at the occasion by a council member, Mr Kehinde Badejo, commended President Goodluck Jonathan for providing the enabling environment for the containment of the EVD in Lagos and Rivers States respectively. He  also urged states to take proactive measures to prevent the spread of the disease.

In his words, Environmental Health profession is dynamic, having evolved as sanitary overseers, to sanitary inspectors and to a stage where it is being offered as a degree course in some universities in Nigeria.

The chairman further called for more proactive measures to reduce the prevalence of malaria by combating mosquitoes.

The council’s registrar , Mr Augustine Ebisike,  in a speech , also urged the Federal Government to work with them being an agency of the Federal Ministry of Environment, on the  “Roll-Back Malaria’’ programme. Reinstating that such collaboration would ensure improvement in environmental sanitation and the reduction of the  incidence of the disease in the country.

Mr Augustine further stated that we have failed to roll back malaria looking at the data released by the Federal Ministry of Health which shows an annual increase of the disease.

Also, Nigerians have become consumers of all manner of anti-malaria medications, leading to capital flight in the unending vicious circle of malaria treatment, due to emphasis on curative instead of preventive health. There are millions of bed nets imported for the purpose of roll back malaria which have now reached their end of shelve lives and are now posing environmental health challenge with regard to their disposal.

While stressing the need for the employment of more Environmental Health Officers (EHOs) nationwide to reduce quackery, Ebisike said the council is bent on ensuring that governments or agencies and departments  do not employ untrained and unqualified  individuals to practice as Environmental Health Officers.

The state Commissioner for Health, Prof. Angela Oyo-Ita revealed they needed to employ more EHO’s in Cross River. Speaking through the Commissioner, Dr Hilary Adeie, she said the state government had prosecuted some environmental health offenders in Biase Local Government Area. Adding that  that the government had evolved measures to ensure the prosecution of environmental law offenders in the remaining 17 local government area of the state.

Oyo-ita declared the conference open which attracted participants from the 36 states states of the federation including the FCT.

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