Abia state government trains Clinicians on monkey pox disease management,says Abia has recorded 31 confirmed cases

Steve Unegbu, Umuahia

Abia State government has disclosed that there is an upsurge in monkey pox disease in the state and revealed that Abia has recorded 31 confirmed cases of the disease .

The Commissioner for health,Dr Joe Osuji who was represented by the Director public health and disease control of Abia State,Dr Borke Okwale, made the disclosure during a one -day capacity building for Clinicians in Abia State on the modern ways to handle monkey pox outbreak and other re-emerging diseases organized by Abia State ministry of health in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) which was held at Gado hotel Umuahia,urged Abians to report any case of monkey pox disease or individual with the symptoms.

He described monkey pox disease as a viral disease with quite low fatality rate,noted that,” it is not something to be scared about rather to maintain the best infection prevention techniques”

According to him,” There is no need of being afraid of it,just maintain cleanliness ,report cases early and treat early any suspected case in the health facilities.

“We are training both people in the private and public sector, Clinicians in secondary health facilities and in private health facilities and those in the government ministry across the state” he said.

Delivering lectures to the participants on risk communication and community engagement a public health consultant Dr (Mrs) Carol Iwuoha informed that communication is an integral part of public health response to diease outbreaks and health emergencies explained that people have the right to be informed about risks and how to protect themselves,urged participants to build trust by providing frequent and frank communication in order to build trust for emergency response.

In the same vein,Lady Peace Nwogwugwu of Abia state epidemiology department revealed that surveillance during disease outbreaks will help to identify disease trends,risks in the community and information available to make good decisions to predict future epidemics as well as to stop outbreaks earlier and reduce deaths.