The Ogun State Chapter of the Association of General and Private Medical Practitioners of Nigeria [AGPMPN] has said both Lassa fever and Coronavirus can be kept away to a large extent if simple rules of personal health and hygiene are obeyed.

Ogun AGPMPN, the body of private medical practitioners advised Nigerians to ensure a clean environment around work and home places.

The state Chairman, AGPMPN, Dr. Rabiu Kusimo, declared that there is no alternative to an individual’s improved personal hygiene to achieve good health and absence of disease.

According to Kusimo, two very prominent infectious diseases ravaging the world today are Lassa fever and Coronavirus infections.

He said,

“Both of them can be kept away to a large extent if simple rules of personal health and hygiene are obeyed. In the interest of our common good health,

“We all must ensure a clean environment around our work and home environments.

“Bushes around our homes and offices should be taken care off to prevent the presence of rats and other dangerous animals.

“Rats should be rid of our environment. Rats should not be played with, should not be touched even when found dead. They should be buried or burnt.”

Kusimo added,

“Our food items should be properly covered while bottled food and drink items should be thoroughly cleaned at openings before we take them.

“Washing our hands repeatedly with soap under running water is a ‘medication’ we should all take daily- after toilet, before food, after shaking hands, after touching some objects that appear obsolete or abandoned; and especially after relating with a sick person.

“And care must especially be taken not to frequently rub our hands on our faces with unwashed hands.

“All cases of catarrh, cough, sore throat, sneezing, incessant body aches and pains and unusual bleeding from any part of the body should be taken seriously and promptly reported for care at designated centres. Individuals should cover their mouths and noses with tissues or their sleeves while sneezing/coughing.

“Every sick person must report early for treatment and take adequate medication with a determination to get well and prevent the spread of infections.

“We should all eschew indiscriminate dumping of refuse, even as we appeal to the government to facilitate safe refuse disposal.

“The government at all levels should ensure adequate water supply to the citizenry, provide public toilets and handwashing units at designated areas all over. If possible, revive the health inspection team of old.

“The government at the highest level should ensure screening activities at our borders, especially at the nation’s ports of arrivals, especially from areas with ‘red flags’.

“The world is abreast of the challenge, most nations have been very proactive in their ‘combat readiness’ in the case of any eventualities. Nigeria can not claim to be a global citizen with a local setting in terms of appraisal and responses to issues and challenges.

“The various radio and television stations should as a matter of Corporate Social Responsibility create and play repeatedly, jingles for public enlightenment on these diseases and preventive measures.

” These should be in as many languages as are spoken within our various towns and communities.”