Environment: Stakeholder Reviews Guidelines To Boost Health Practice

The Registrar, Environmental Health Council of Nigeria, EHCON, Dr Yakubu Baba reiterated his administration’s commitment to ensure environmental health becomes the number one profession in the health sector.

He stated this at a technical review meeting on guildlines for the monitoring of Environmental Health Practice and Service in Nigeria held in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

“You are carefully selected to actively participate in this critique meeting because the intention of the Council is to have an instruments that will strengthen the practitioners and also re- integrate the practice of environmental health in Nigeria this instrument is very critical to our survivor as a probation looking critically at the review Council Act, which has given a lot of power to the Council to do so many things and regulate the practice of the profession of environmental health.

But without this instrument we are seeing a lot of gaps and challenges for us to deliver on the provisions in the act that establish the Council, basically the Council priority is to make environmental health as number one profession in the health sector which is happening globally.” He explained.

He said the aim of the meeting was to review the documents the Council has been using over time.
Dr Baba also noted that the meeting would also help the professionals to strengthen the practice and thereby reposition the profession of environmental health as part of the agenda of the Council rebranding process.

“In the life of every profession, change is dynamic so the essence of this gathering is a technical review of some of the instruments that we have been using in our day to day activities, and also addition of the new instruments that have come in as a result of a emerging and remerging of Environmental health issues, so basically when you look at the composition of those that we have invited, our professors from the academia who believe are supposed to lead any role in environmental health.” He said.

Dr Baba also noted that the meeting was to review fourteen documents, which are very critical to the development of the Council.

According to him, “another critical instrument that we need to look at is the review of our National Environmental health practice regulation,” the last time the regulation was reviewed, was is in 2015 when you look at the journey 2015 to 2023 is about eight years journey and a lot of things has happened within this eight years.

so, it is our hope and our duty that we look at the regulation, review the regulation so that we can be able to add the new emerging and remargining issues that are not provided in the regulation”. He said.

He also emphasised that the Council is also working on developing a standard monitoring tool that would standardise its monitoring and evaluation practice.

“It is very critical for the Council to develop this mechanism we have seen there is no standard monitoring tool that is being used by the counsellors, for example, in the headquarters in the Zonal offices and also in the state offices. We have also noticed that there is no tender monitoring tool that is been utilised by the practitioners.

We need to develop the tools that will standardise our monitoring and evaluation of the practice, this is very critical because there is a likelihood that we are shifting from the norms of the normal premises inspection to environmental surveillance system which is what is obtainable globally our thinking is to look at how we can digitise the environmental surveillance system.” He explained.

Speaking on the delineation of roles and functions of Professionals in the environmental health sector in Nigeria, the Registrar, Dr Baba said that the Council is working with relevant stakeholders to discuss and come up with standard delineation to help reduce crisis and bring harmony to the practice of environmental health.

“The era of having a practitioner who is jack of all trades, and Master of all is gone so our focus is to create practitioners who have knowledge as skills in one or two areas of environmental health, what we mean is specialities, in a specific area of practice of environmental health. ” He stated.

He further stressed that there is a need to have a platform that will give routes to academicians to have assess to research grant facility where they can send their students for research purpose.

“Another instrument is the National Institute of Environmental Health. There is no profession that will develop without research and development because the global focus is on R&D, this particular instrument will be looked into carefully so that we be able to come up with a convenient structure the National Institute should adapt and utilised for sustainability purpose.” He stated.

The Registrar added that the Council will also review and update of its internship manual.

The Chief facilitator of the team, Dr Shehu Muhammad said the team of experts is to review documents, guidelines, policies of the Council by developing a new guidelines to help environmental health professionals in dealing with activities in the environment.

“Our job as facilitators is to ensure that we’re taking care of obsolete ideas in the laws, Identify the gaps, look at the margin and remargin issues, and ensure that we fill in all the gaps, update the regulation that will enable to deal with all issues around the environment.

“And our job is to ensure that these documents contain the relevant information, the relevant guidelines, and the relevant procedures for dealing with this before it happens. ” Dr Muhammad added.

Professor of Public Health, Environmental and Safety, Agwu-Nkwa Amadi said the reviewing of the guidelines is to help direct practitioners on what to do in the environmental health sector.

He also noted that the aim is to improve public health in those institutions as well as the communities in the country.

“So the guidelines being developed is going to impact very positively on both the academians and those outside the academia.” Professor Amadi stated.

The technical review meeting on guildlines for the monitoring of Environmental Health Practice and Service is also to discuss and brainatorm with relevant stakeholders on the Council strategic plans for the next ten years.

 

Shakirat Sadiq