Osun govt, Red-Cross partner to eradicate cholera

Osun State government has revealed that it is working with the International Committee of the Red Cross, ICRC, in its effort to eradicate cholera outbreak and other diseases in the state.

This was disclosed at an incidence meeting and bilateral discussion between the officials of the Ministry of Health led by the Special Adviser on Public Health to the Governor, Dr Akindele Adekunle and a contingent of Red Cross.

During the meeting, Dr Akindele while acknowledging the support the organisation will render the state in eradicating cholera and other diseases in the state, said without such support from humanitarian organisations, the government will have too much burden on itself in ensuring effective eradication of those diseases.

“I sincerely want to thank your organisation for coming on board to partner with us in eradicating cholera and other diseases in our state.

“In the recent cholera outbreak we had, we realised we have skilled health workers but bad medical facilities in the remote area of the state to quickly attend to these cases.

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“This informs the reason the government is embarking on a comprehensive renovation of over 300 primary healthcare centres with reticulated water systems and 24-hour power service.

“This we believe will help mitigate against the spread of these diseases whenever there is an outbreak as our skilled health workers will be able to work within an equipped medical facility in attending to such cases quickly enough,” he said.

The Chairman Red Cross, Osun State Branch, Sanya Olopade expressed the readiness of his organisation to work with the state government in the area of eradicating cholera.

“As an organisation, we’re impressed with the government of Osun on various actions in the health sector. We are here today to affirm our readiness to partner with the Osun government in the area of their needs.

“No government can do it alone. With the open arm Osun government has shown, we will do what we can do in our capacity to support Osun in eradicating this disease and other ones,” the Red-Cross official stated.

The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Dr Isiaka Adekunle said the Ministry has engaged in a multi disciplinary approach by partnering with sister agencies in helping to curb the spread of cholera.