…AS LAWMA commences waste mgt advocacy in schools

By Olasunkanmi Akoni

Lagos State Government has commenced free school based deworming exercise to treat soil transmitted helminthiasis, STH, targeting 1.3 million school aged children between ages of five and 14 year susceptible of parasitic worm infections in the state.

Also, as part of moves to inculcate tenets of effective waste management into the younger generation, Lagos Waste Management Authority, LAWMA has embarked on a massive advocacy program among primary and secondary schools in the state.

STH which is being implemented in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Health and a non-governmental organisation, Evidence Action, is slated to take place in 10 soil transmitted helminthiasis endemic Local Government Areas, LGAs, including; Ajeromi/ Ifelodun, Amuwo Odofin, Apapa, Badagry, Epe, Ibeju Lekki, Lagos Island, Lagos Mainland, Ojo and Shomolu.

Speaking on the modalities for the implementation of the exercise, the state Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, said that the five days exercise will be carried out from Tuesday 22 to Saturday 26, November, 2022.

Abayomi added that, children, aged five and 14 years, in schools and communities in the 10 LGAs will be dewormed and treated for soil transmitted helminthiasis using Albendazole Tablets during the exercise.

According to him: “The Lagos State Ministry of Health is happy to collaborate with the Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) and Evidence Action to commence implementation of the biannual school based deworming exercise targeting children 5 to 14 years, enrolled and non-enrolled in Primary and Junior Secondary Schools to treat soil-transmitted helminthiasis (STH) using Albendazole; a medication used to treat infections caused by worms.

“This round of treatment will focus on 10 endemic LGAs – Ajeromi/ Ifelodun, Amuwo Odofin, Apapa, Badagry, Epe, Ibeju Lekki, Lagos Island, Lagos Mainland, Ojo and Shomolu reaching approximately over 1.3 million at-risk children in primary and junior secondary public and private schools with safe and free medicines received from World Health Organization drug donation program.”

Abayomi disclosed that more than 1.5 billion people, representing 24 per cent of the world’s population, are infected with soil-transmitted helminth infections adding that over 875 million of this population are children.

He explained that Nigeria has the second-largest population of infected children worldwide with the prevalence of about 29 million cases, bringing to fore the need to put in place strategies to treat and eliminate soil-transmitted helminth and schistosomiasis infections.

“According to various surveys that have been conducted by the FMOH, Soil transmitted helminthiases and schistosomiasis have been detected in several LGAs at a level that require mass treatment of all school-age children. Soil-transmitted helminths are significant public health burdens in Nigeria. Evidence has shown that worm infections interfere with nutrient uptake causing anemia, malnourishment and impaired mental and physical development”, Abayomi stated.

The Commissioner noted that School-age children are particularly vulnerable and most at risk stressing that the infection pose a serious threat to children’s health, education, and economic potential as School-age children harbor the highest intensity of infection by soil-transmitted helminths.

“The World Health Organization (WHO) and Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) recommend a mass administration of deworming medicines using a large-scale school-based and community-based approach to control this disease. School-based deworming is a safe, simple, and cost-effective solution to reducing the burden of parasitic worm infections in children”, he said.

Abayomi noted that School-based deworming is an important evidence-based strategy to treat children at risk of parasitic worm infections adding that teachers and community health workers have been trained to safely and effectively administer the medicines to the children. 

Also speaking, the South-West Program Manager, Evidence Action, Maryann Edeh who represented the Director West and Central Africa, noted that the school based deworming programme is an effective and cost effective strategy to ensure that the diseases disrupting the educational growth of children are treated.

“We are an international organization in several countries. We have a track record of supporting governments across the world to set up programs like this. We are particularly honoured that we are able to extend this technical assistance to Lagos”. She said.

LAWMA advocacy in schools

On the massive advocacy program among primary and secondary schools in the state, the Managing Director, LAWMA, Mr. Ibrahim Odumboni, said that the agency’s decision to commence the school advocacy program was informed by the need to sensitise children on ethics of proper waste management, thereby catching them young, for better society.

“Our main aim for embarking on massive school advocacy is to raise the next generation of citizens who understand the place and importance of effective waste management and environmental sustainability in society. We cannot afford to be nonchalant about this because the future is at stake,” he said. 

Odumboni noted that the authority, working with other stakeholders, like the Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board, LASUBEB, was on a mission to create environmental awareness in all primary and secondary schools, to change the narrative of waste and environmental management in the state. 

“One of the objectives of LAWMA Academy is to raise the next generation of Solid Waste Management scholars and entrepreneurs whilst providing students with a variety of individualised and creative learning experience in waste management, through our School Advocacy Program (SAP) that delivers waste education and sensitisation to students in primary and secondary schools in Lagos State”, he stated.

The LAWMA boss stressed the need for parents and guardians to encourage their children and wards to embrace the culture of recycling, waste sorting at the point of generation, and containerisation, adding that habits formed in tender years would be difficult to be abandoned.