Pulse.ng : KDSG partners Sightsavers to end NTDs by 2030

By Aisha Gambo/Stella Kabruk

The Kaduna State Government under the Ministry of Health, Department of Public Health, has partnered with Sightsavers to end Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) by 2030.

The Commissioner, Hajiya Umma Ahmed, made the disclosure on Thursday during a press briefing to commemorate the world NTDs day, which has the theme: “Unite to Achieve Our Goals”.

She said, “The World NTD Day is an opportunity to re-energise the momentum towards ending the suffering from these 20 diseases that are caused by a variety of pathogens including viruses, bacteria, parasites and toxins.

” This is sequel to the recent rollout of the ten-year NTDs roadmap for the period of 2021-2030 by the WHO proposed ambitious targets and innovative.

“The efforts include approaches towards tackling NTDs providing a clear blueprint and direction towards Global NTDs elimination,” she said.

The commissioner was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Aisha Sadiq.

Ahmed said that the state was reviewing a master plan that provides a stronger direction and enable them to scale up interventions to meet the global target of eliminating NTDs by 2030.

She added that the ministry was optimising community engagements for tackling NTDs for sustainability and ownership, adding that the state had received support to tackle the menace in the state.

According to her, a substantial progress had been made over the decade, with the evidence of being able to interrupt the transmission of Onchocerciasis in 16 LGAs and elimination of Trachoma in Igabi LGA.

Ahmed said that the state conducts annual deworming of school children and mass drugs administration for Lymphatic Filariasis and Schistosomiasis across 23 endemic LGAs.

“Thus far, more than 6,910,095 million treatments have been provided and 216 hydrocele patients treated.

“Also, 434 health workers were trained, and 7,249 Community Directed Distributors (CDDs) trained to distribute medicines within their community in 2023.

“In addition, two Surgeons were trained as state master trainers to ensure quality during Hydrocele surgeries across the state.

“The state NTD control programme has successfully transitioned from paper-based reporting to electronic reporting using NTD DHIS 2.0.s,”she said.

While speaking, Sightsavers Programme Director for NTDs,Anita Gwom, urged government partners, health workers and policy makers to collaborate,unite to eliminate NTDs by 2030.

She said, “This call is for all government partners to gather resources to ensure that we contribute to eliminating the NTDs by 2030.

“We are also calling on our partners like health workers, communities, government to contribute to the process.

“Health workers should be accountable to their actions and ensure that they bring out results as they contribute to the elimination of NTDs.”(NAN)