Dr Okechukwu Ossai, the Chief Disease Surveillance Officer in Enugu State, on Thursday urged Nigerians to wash their hands with soap and running water regularly to guard against disease.
He said in Enugu that regular washing of the hands has the capacity to prevent diseases from spreading through contact with the hands.
He said that the practice would help reduce the cost of managing community health as well as reduce the health bill of federal and state governments.
“Most contagious diseases could be transmitted by mere shaking of hands.
“There are some diseases that can transmitted through what we call fomites.
“You may touch clothes and think that the clothes are not infected.
“You might not know that some other persons, who have one disease or the other could have touched and infected the clothes and from there you could contract any form of disease.
“So, we say after touching anything, before touching anything, make sure you wash your hands with soap and running water.
“If soap is not available, we say you wash with potash.
“We advise that everybody should form the habit of washing of hands regularly.’’
Ossai, who is also the Director of Public Health in the state, urged people to report cases of suspected epidemic to a medical facility in order to help improve disease surveillance in the country.
He urged Nigerians to avoid self-medication and always go to medical facilities for proper treatment.
“Our people should stop self medication; they should visit health facilities regularly to help disease control and surveillance.’’
