Lassa Fever: Lagos Assembly Calls For Public Enlightenment

The Lagos State House of Assembly has called on the Ministry of Information and Strategy as well as the Ministry of Health to embark on aggressive public enlightenment campaigns on the prevention of Lassa fever in the state.

Members of the House who spoke on the issue agreed that it has become important to enlighten the people of the state since the ailment is spreading across the country.

They emphasised that the fever is caused by virus probably transmitted by contact with the faeces or urine of rodents (rats) accessing grain stores, and tasked Lagosians on environmental cleanliness.

A member of the House, Suru Avoseh, who raised the issue under Matters of UrgentPublic Importance, told his colleagues that Lassa fever, an acute viral hemorrhagic fever caused by the Lassa virus had killed many people in the country.

He said that both ministries were responsible for educating people on how to combat the virus in the state.

Contributing, other lawmakers called on local government councils to start aggressive public enlightenment at the grassroots level to clear refuse in their surroundings.

Yinka Ogundimu, a lawmaker, implored food vendors to step up their hygiene to combat the menace that has claimed the lives of many people.

The lawmakers further implored sanitary inspectors at the Local Government levels to live up to their duties to prevent the deadly fever.

They all agreed that constant fumigation of the environment is very important.

They also called on medical personnel in government hospitals to be ready with drugs and vaccines that can end the outbreak.