Goitre Scourge Hits Lagos, 50 Affected

Kazeem Ugbodaga

Lagos State Government has raised concerns over an outbreak of goitre in Badagry Local Government Area of the state, southwest Nigeria.

Goitre is the swelling of the neck or larynx resulting from enlargement of the thyroid gland and as at the last count 50 residents of the area were diagnosed with the disease during a medical intervention programme organised by the state government.

P.M.NEWS learnt that the rampant reported cases of goitre in the area prompted the state government to begin the emergency screening exercise.  And the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, who led a government team to Badagry recently, kick-started a control programme to stop the spread of the disease.

Idris, while addressing partipants at the screening exercise held at the Ajara Vetho Primary Healthcare Centre in Badagry, said: “A free medical mission was conducted in Badagry between 9 and 12 of December, 2013. During this mission, it was observed that there were a high number of people with neck swellings among the residents who came to seek medical intervention.

“At the end of the mission, several patients were registered with this complaint. The observation was brought to the Governor’s notice and he directed that an intervention be planned for all documented cases. This is why the state governor approved the goitre control programme.”

He added that due to physical and financial burden of referring patients suffering from this disease to secondary and tertiary health facilities, it became necessary for the state government to develop a comprehensive strategy that would offer an effective and holistic approach whose impact would be felt in the long term.

“With the fact that the clinical management of thyroid swellings requires primary care such as health education and disease prevention and secondary care;  such sas diagnosis, treatment and follow up and tertiary care; rehabilitation, as well as considering the resource requirement to successfully offer a lasting solution, it also became necessary to develop a selective, specialized medical mission for these patients which would last over a period of two and three months,” Idris explained.

He noted that the first phase of the goitre control programme which was piloted in Badagry Local Government involved a clinical assessment of the patients and an epidemiological survey of the community in order to determine the real extent of the disease burden, as well as, investigate the determinants of the disease.

According to him, “the exercise is also aimed at instituting preventive measures that will reduce the prevalence of the disease in the region, determine those patients that are more suited for medical treatment with drugs, and provide selection criteria for patients more suited and stable for surgery.”

The Commissioner added that subsequently after the screening exercise, patients suffering from the disease would be offered definitive care as deemed appropriate following the review of a team of highly skilled surgeons and endocrinologists.

“However, in order to reduce the incidence of the disease burden in the long term, measures are being put in place to stem the root cause of this alarming number in the community. They include measures such as health education of the community members, iodization of their salt, and other processes that the public health professionals of the state may judge suitable,” Idris said.