CALABAR – The Environmental Officers Registration Council of Nigeria (EHORECON) has commended the Federal Government for taking the necessary actions to deal with challenges posed by the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in Nigeria.
EHORECON Chairman, Prof Oladapo Afolabi, gave the commendation on Wednesday in Calabar at the opening of the Thematic Mandatory Continuing Education Programme for registered Environmental Health Officers.
Afolabi, represented at the occasion by a council member, Mr Kehinde Badejo, said commended President Goodluck Jonathan for providing the enabling environment for the containment of the EVD in Lagos and Rivers States.
He urged states to take proactive measures to prevent the spread of the disease. ensure that against the disease.
According to him, 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.
He also called for more proactive measures to reduce the prevalence of malaria by combating mosquitoes.
In his speech, the Registrar of EHORECON, Mr Augustine Ebisike, also urged the Federal Government to work with the council, an agency of the Federal Ministry of Environment, on the “Roll-Back Malaria’’ programme.
He said that such collaboration would ensure improvement in environmental sanitation and the reduction of the incidence of the disease in the country.
“We have failed to roll back malaria as can be seen from the data released by the Fedral Ministry of Health which shows an annual increase in the incidence of the disease.
“Also, Nigerians have become consumers of all manner of anti-malarial medication, leading to capital flight in the unending vicious circle of malaria treatment, due to emphasis on curative instead of preventive health.
“We have 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. [eap_ad_1] He stressed the need for the employment of more Environmental Health Officers (EHOs) nationwide to reduce quackery.
Ebisike said the council was poised to enforce the provisions of Act 11 of 2002 against governments or agencies and departments employing those not trained or qualified to practice as Environmental Health Officers (EHOs).
Also speaking, the state Commissioner for Health, Prof. Angela Oyo-Ita, said the state needed to employ more EHOs in Cross River.
The Commissioner, who spoke through Dr Hilary Adeie, said the state government had prosecuted some environmental health offenders in Biase Local Government Area.
He added 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 also declared open the conference which attracted participants from all states of the federation. (NAN)
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