Expert issues warning against disease outbreak in Anambra community

On Sep 9, 2023

The Chief Medical Director of Diocesan Hospital, Okpoko in Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra State, Dr. Ejikeme Okonkwo, has raised the alarm over a possible epidemic outbreak in Okpoko, a slum community near Onitsha, as a result of the poor sanitary conditions.

He warned that if deliberate attempts are not made to change the sanitary condition of the community, residents stand the danger of being hit by deadly epidemics.

Okonkwo raised the alarm on Friday, during a two-day free medical outreach, organised for residents of the area by a former lawmaker representing Ogbaru Federal Constituency in the Federal House of Representative, Chukwuma Onyema, in collaboration with National Agency for the Control of AIDS and Niphemy Solutions Limited.

Addressing journalists during the exercise, the CMD said high population density will make epidemics spread faster.

Okonkwo noted that malaria and typhoid fever cases were largely presented by the residents of the community.

This, he said is due to the presence of stagnant water that breeds mosquitoes and dirty markets in the community.

He said urgent steps should be taken by both the federal and the state governments to save the residents from epidemic an outbreak.

He said: “Malaria and Typhoid fever cases were presented by all the beneficiaries, this is due to the filthy environment of the community. Residents of the area need continuous free medical attention. These residents are poor and they can’t access medical treatment on their own. Most of them, from our interactions, have not visited the hospitals for over three years and above. They prefer to patronise chemists and quacks. Their environment is the main cause of their predominant malaria and typhoid fever cases. You can see that this place is a slum. Okpoko needs to be cleaned up urgently without further delay to avoid an outbreak of a dangerous epidemic. I don’t know how it could be done, but they need it now to save the people. The Anambra State Government should step in to clean up the place and plan it in such a way that their stagnant gutters can flow freely. Their markets should also be cleaned up and sanitised so they can face only nutrition problems, They are complaining about feeding which is also a problem and they need assistance,” he added.

Wumi/Punch