By Gabriel Ewepu

ABUJA – AS Neglected Tropical Diseases, NTDs, ravage health of Nigerians, the Federal Ministries of Water Resources, and Health, Wednesday, resolved to eliminate trachoma and other NTDs with NTD Water Sanitation and Hygiene, WASH, Dashboard launch.

Speaking on the rationale behind the launch of the bNTD WASH Dashboard, the Country Director, Sightsavers Nigeria, Dr Sunday Isiyaku, represented by the Senior Programmes Manager, Sightsavers Nigeria, Anita Gwom, at the ‘NTD-WASH Nigeria Stakeholders Meeting: Launch of the NTD WASH Dashboard and Familiarization of Stakeholders on dashboard usage’, said it is time for stakeholders to have stronger collaboration and action to eliminate Neglected Tropical Diseases, NTDs, in Nigeria, hence the launch of the Dashboard.

Isiyaku described the Dashboard bas valuable tool necessary for advocacy to drastically reduce the NTDs.

The purpose of this launch event is to present the dashboard as hosted on the WASHIMS platform to stakeholders and familiarize stakeholders on access to and usage of the dashboard.

The objective of the event was to introduce the NTD WASH dashboard as hosted on the WASHIMS platform and allow stakeholders to become familiar with access to the WASHIMS platform and usage of the NTD WASH dashboard.

Efforts to strengthen WASH and NTD cross sector coordination has been underway since 2018. Led by Federal Ministry of Health and Federal Ministry of Water Resources, and supported by Sightsavers, the WASH/NTD combined indicator webpage was developed as a mechanism to strengthen data visualization toward improved joint planning and decision making.

He said: “Now is the time to act in collaboration and we believe that the dashboard is a valuable tool, and apart from that it is an advocacy tool because the dashboard is one you can use to plan to gather your resources to ensure that the NTD collaboration and WASH collaboration is happening, and without that the NTD cannot be eliminated.

“This is just a heads up it was just a picture, the same idea, which is always in tune and if it doesn’t trickle down to the same of the communities then we started as NTDs will say now is the time to act.

“To answer this question, we believe that the dashboard is a very valuable tool for the two liner Ministries to use above what is also an advocacy tool because the dashboard is one you can use to plan to gather your resources to ensure that the entity collaboration and what information is happening, we thought that the entities cannot be eliminated.

“We are having issues in some states of failings, assessments after 20 years 10 years and five years of treating mass populations because the WASH is not in place.

“We are pleading to the two Ministries (Health and Water Resources), and our policymakers here today, we hope that we will take it up from here to see how resources can come out to ensure that will promote and strengthen the efforts at the community level.”

Meanwhile, the Assistant Director, Water Sanitation and Hygiene, WASH Documentation and Tracking, Federal Ministry of Water Resources, Joseph Adeyemo, said, “At the Federal Ministry of Water Resources, we appreciate the connect between efficient WASH service delivery reduced the rate of infection of waterborne and water related diseases such as Neglected Tropical Diseases, NTDs.

“So, this informed our collaboration with the Ministry of Health. We have been collaborating in the area of WASH service delivery because we when talk about preventive medicine WASH should be an integral part of that.

“If people have access to safe water, basic sanitation, the rate at which they get infected, with all this diseases will be reduced. So as part of that collaboration we was saw the need to share data.

“That is what informed the creation or development of what we call the WASH NTD Combined Indicator Dashboard.

“A portal has been created on the Information Management System for WASH called WASHIM to accommodate this dashboard and that is what we are launching today.

“With this dashboard we are able to share knowledge, planning and decision making becomes even more efficient. That is basically all and further strengthen the synergy between the NTD and WASH community.

According to him, after the launch with existing stakeholders at the State level they intend to do a lot of coordination and at the State they will take advantage of the dashboard for joint interventions.

Also the Deputy Director and National Trachoma Programme Manager, Federal Ministry of Health, Dr. Nicholas Olobio, said, “The essence of these data merges collaboration, NTDs is our main goal is elimination and without WASH we cannot eliminate the NTDs.

“We give drugs to do Mass Drug Administration. But you can give only drugs alone to eliminate these NTDs you also need Water Sanitation and Hygiene, WASH, and that is why there was this need for us to collaborate with Federal Ministry of Water Resources, because there are places where WASH is very poor that is where the Federal Ministry of Water Resources comes in, and we can tell them you can help us carry out intervention in these areas where there is WASH.

“The essence and aim is for us to have good WASH services in those places where the WASH services are very poor and when we are having our NTDs activities we bring in Water Resources to carry out intervention to make sure that WASH is okay and by so doing it makes elimination easy for us.”

However, Olobio lamented the poor environment Nigerians live in, hence the need for WASH facilities to be established in those places.

He also explained that the dashboard will go a long way to tackle the menace as both ministries collaborate.

“For Nigeria, we have gotten to a point for trachoma, we have gotten to a point where elimination is very close but the end is always very difficult.

“Especially, when WASH is not in place it is always very difficult because if you do surveys and wash is not involved it bounces back”, he added.

According to him, States worst hit with trachoma include Sokoto and Yobe.

However, he said the way to eliminate trachoma is through Surgery, Antibiotics, Facial cleanness, and Environmental improvement, S. A. F. E.

He also said to maintain the dashboard, there is need for regular meetings, and information sharing.