LAGOS – Medical experts on Monday urged Nigerians to intensify the culture of hand washing, personal hygiene and environmental health even after the World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared Nigeria Ebola free.
The experts spoke in interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on the WHO’s declaration.
Dr John Egbuta, a consultant nutritionist with United Nations, said that Nigeria should sustain the fight against infectious diseases with good hygiene.
“Before the outbreak of Ebola, we had been trying to sensitise Nigerians on the need for environmental sanitation and personal hygiene through washing of hands with soap and water.
“When it was being propagated, nobody took it serious, and now we should not think that we have been certified Ebola free and dump this culture of hand washing.
“We should intensify it, because the cleaner we are, the better we are able to sustain our level of fighting diseases,“ Egbuta said.
Also speaking, Dr Bamidele Mutiu, a consultant microbiologist with the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja, urged the Federal Government to train healthcare workers on infection prevention and control.
Mutiu said that such training would reduce the tendency for healthcare workers to be infected with contagious diseases.
“Once the infection prevention and control practice is in place, if per chance we have a case coming in, the tendency for healthcare workers to be infected will be reduced, “ he said.
Mutiu urged Nigerians to continue to practise good hygiene in spite of the WHO’s declaration. (NAN)