Pneumonia is the second major killer of
Nigerian children after malaria. Paediatricians, mothers and caregivers who
spoke with BUKOLA ADEBAYO at a screening exercise in Lagos, called on
government to provide pneumococcal vaccination to fight the disease
Medical experts are worried about the rate at
which Nigerians, particularly children, are losing their lives to pneumonia.
According to them, about 146, 370 children are killed yearly by the disease.
This number, they said, is unacceptable for a disease that can be prevented
with simple precautions like immunisation and good hygiene.
They identified ignorance on the cause of the
disease, low breastfeeding and non-inclusion of the pneumococcal vaccine in the
national routine immunisation programme of the country as some of the factors
responsible for the high death rate occasioned by pneumonia.
They warned that if government and parents failed
to key into the fight, against pneumonia, infant mortality might continue
to increase especially at the grass roots.
The experts spoke with our correspondent at
a free screening programme organised by the Paediatric Association of
Nigeria for artisans, mothers and pregnant women at the Isolo Market, Mushin in
Lagos on Monday as part of activities to mark the World Pneumonia Day.
PAN President, Dr. Dorothy Esangbedo, while
welcoming participants, said the association had organised the event to educate
parents on the causes of the disease.
According to her, many Nigerians are ignorant
about the factors responsible for the ailment, stressing that contrary to the
widely held belief that pneumonia is caused by exposure to cold weather and
cold water, the disease is a communicable one caused by a pneumococcal virus.
A survey conducted during the screening revealed
that 90 per cent of participants had a wrong notion of the causes of the
disease. Their responses confirmed Esangbedo’s fear.
For instance, a mother, who came with her eight
months old baby, Mrs. Anike Ajayi, said she had always believed that pneumonia
was caused by uncontrolled exposure to cold weather, rain or water.
She said, “When I was growing up, my parents
banned all my siblings from taking anything cold .Even our teachers warned us
not to take cold drinks. They said it would cause pneumonia. I always tell my
children to stay away from cold things. I make them eat hot meals and ensure
they keep warm.”
Ajayi is not the only one with this wrong mindset
about pneumonia. Many Nigerians have this wrong perception about the disease.
Also, a consultant paediatrician with the Lagos
University Teaching Hospital, Idi- Araba, Dr. Ekanem Ekure, said that pneumonia
is caused by the Streptocucous Pneumoniae which is found in bacteria, fungi,
virus and not cold water, weather or food.
She said, “As we have discovered here, many
Nigerians do not know what truly causes pneumonia. We also conducted a survey
for mothers in our clinic in LUTH, three quarter of them thought that pneumonia
was caused by exposure to cold weather or water and the other quarter had not
even heard of it.
“Pneumonia is the second killer of our children
after malaria in Nigeria. It accounts for about 17 per cent of total infant
mortality recorded yearly in the country, yet our mothers and fathers are
ignorant of its causes and prevention.”
She noted that pnuemoniae is transmitted by
inhaling germs from dirty environments or ingesting same through the mouth by
eating contaminated fluids.
She said, “Pneumococcal infections occur when
children or adults are exposed to germ and not cold weather. If it was due to
cold, all the children in cold regions abroad would have contracted it by now.
“When this bacteria or virus gets into the body
either through the mouth or other openings in the body,it goes to the gut and
contaminates the blood and goes into the lungs to destroy some cells there.
That is pneumonia.
“Parents must know that the way this bacteria or
virus gets into the body is through germs contracted under poor sanitation and
hygiene.It is not prevented or treated by wearing sweaters or keeping warm.”
Ekure,however,noted that children who are
predisposed to this disease are those who have not been exclusively breastfed,
who attend day care and crèches and are exposed to passive smoke from
cigarettes, charcoal, firewood in their homes and those that miss out on
routine immunisation.
Ekure said,“Mothers must make sure that the day
care they take their children to is not the place where they can be exposed to
germs.
“ A child with pneumonia in a creche where
hygiene practices are poor will quickly infect others.”
She noted that to reduce the rate of pneumococcal
infections, which according to her, kills 17 children every hour in the
country, Nigerians must adopt improved hygienic lifestyles and increase vaccine
intake for their children.
Ekure noted that though pneumococcal vaccine was
not included in the routine immunisation this year, the Federal Government had
included the Haemophilus Influenzae Type B vaccine which protects children
against some types of pneumonia infections.
However, some of the mothers who spoke with
our correspondent at the screening programme said they were yet to take some
vaccines for their babies at the hospital because they were usually out of
stock.
A mother, Mrs. Sidi Musbau, complained that after
her third visits to the hospital immunise for her baby boy, she stopped going
because nurses kept telling her to come back citing dearth of the vaccine as
reason.
Speaking in Yoruba Language Musbau said, “ They
give us dates to come for vaccination but when we get there, they will
say it is finished,maybe just 10 children will be immunised that day. After my
third unsuccessful attempt to get my child immunised, I decided to wait for the
next time they will do mass immunisation in my area but the queue is usually
too long.”
Responding to this, Ekure charged the Federal
Government to improve vaccination coverage and also include the pneumococcal
vaccine to encourage mothers to immunise their children against this disease.
She said, “Yes, sometimes last year there was the
problem of stock and shortages in primary health centres but they are working
on it.Mothers will not take their children to the clinics if they know they
will not get it.”
She also called on government to increase access
to safe water to help Nigerians adopt good hygiene such as hand washing which
can reduce childhood diseases in the country.
“If we want more children to wash their
hands, they must have access to safe and clean water in their homes and
schools.
Another a consultant paediatrician, Dr. Olajide
Ojo charged mothers to embrace exclusive breastfeeding to fight major diseases.
Ojo said, “The first immunisation God
designed for babies is their mother’s breast milk. It naturally prevents and
protects them from diseases. It is their right and it should not be denied
them. Mothers should breast feed their babies exclusively which means not
giving them water for the first six months of their lives.”
Punch
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