By Prince J Musa in Kenema
One of the Partners of the Ministry of Health and Sanitation, through the STOP Spillover Project has ended a three-day simulation exercise on the transmission of Zoonotic diseases that comes from animals to human.
The exercise was conducted in two communities in Guala and Dodo townships in Dodo Chiefdom from the 6th to 8th March 2024.
The engagement captured participants such as town chiefs, Community Health Workers, women’s leaders, youth, Community Health Aids, bike riders among others.
Speaking at the event, the Country Director of the USAID funded Stop SpillOver Project, Dr. Edward Magbity said the exercise in the communities was a result of a couple of case studies put together to determine chiefdom level preparedness in response to any Zoonotic disease outbreak.
He said the root causes of most zoonotic infections comes from animals especially when those communities identified are closer to the forest region which has high possibility for animals to transmit diseases to people due to their interactions. He added that the exercise will enable the community people to detect the signs and symptoms early. He noted that Dodo chiefdom is one of the Lassa fever belt chiefdoms in Kenema district.
He said the simulation will enhance them map out the immediate contacts of those infected with a virus through the community structures.
Dr. Magbity said they expect other partners such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Environment to get a robust surveillance team on data- gathering as things unfold at community level and the preventive steps which every individual should take.
The Operations Lead of Public Health Emergency Response Department at the Health Ministry, Sahr Gbende said most times outbreaks start at community level and it is on that basis that the simulation exercise was taken to the communities with the aim of capacitating the people to tackle for example- Lassa fever transmission chain.
“We came to improve on the knowledge of the communities on how outbreaks begin and how it spreads faster and the means to stop it spread further,’’ he said.
Section Chief of Dodo, Momoh P. Joelaa described the simulation as important and timely for them more especially when they live in difficult terrains, adding that they were able to learn a lot on the health issues especially on the dangers of eating dead meats.
He said with the simulation exercise, they can now manage certain cases as a community before calling on government officials to help. He assured the Stop SpillOver team that they will go back to their communities and help pass on the knowledge acquired, especially in Mosques and Churches.
“Simulation on Lassa fever(for example) will help us to prevent and know the signs and symptoms of zoonotic diseases in case of any outbreak,’’ he added.
In his statement, the National Surveillance Officer-Ministry of Health and Sanitation, Charles Kambe said the exercise was meant to get firsthand information from the people on how they in the communities handle or respond to an outbreak.
He reiterated that the simulation will build the capacity of the communities to identify some of the contributing factors in the spread of diseases in the community and help the ministry of health to easily handle them based on information from the people.
Zoonotic diseases are derived from animals through contact which can lead to epidemic or pandemic outbreaks in human settlements.
Copyright © 2024 Politico (11/03/24)
