Ruth Oginyi
United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through its funded program Integrated Health Programs ( IHP), Tuesday carried out free medical care and treatment to the rural residents of Edda Afikpo south local government area of Ebonyi State.
The community outreach featured oral and practical lectures on how to process and prepare foods including garri, palp, and plantain porridge, among others for their healthy living by the Chairperson of the Nigerian Society of Nutritionists, Ebonyi State Chapter, Nwabunma Isuzu.
During the health outreach at Nguzu Edda Primary School, a member of the USAID-IHP team in Ebonyi, Divine Omerigwe said the program was embarked on by the agency to ensure Ebonyi rural residents cutting across the 13 council areas of the state get access to quality medical care and treatment in the health facilities within their area without stress.
She said the program boosts the health system in Ebonyi state, increases access, and improves the quality of integrated primary health care services in Ebonyi State.
Omerigwe said the agency used the opportunity to carry out primary health care for mothers, other female folks, and children, stressing that both antenatal care for pregnant women and immunization for children at zero to 5years, with Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) vaccination, were carried out.
Mrs. Omerigwe noted that the health outreach by USAID-IHP in collaboration with the World Health Organisation in Nigeria and the Ebonyi State Ministry of Health was used to commemorate the World Food Safety Day, where Safer Food, Better Life through the Nigerian Society of Nutritionists (NSN) sensitized the community people on how to use their local available food resources to process and prepare healthy foods for their children.
She explained that the major diseases found among the children under five in the area were diarrhea, pneumonia, and malnutrition, while the elderly and the middle-aged suffer majorly rheumatism and high blood pressure (HBP).
She however urged the community members to utilize their health centers for health care services and use their locally available food resources to prepare their foods as this will help to improve the nutrition status of their children.
Pastor Dickson Nduka, and Regina Imo, among other beneficiaries, expressed joy over the free medical care and treatment.
“We were treated of general body pains, some eye-sickness, children and women especially those at the bearing age received special treatment like immunization, antenatal care.
Different therapies were given to those in attendance according to the kind of ailments they are suffering from during the health outreach,” the people said.”
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