Ebonyi State Government has called for concerted efforts in the fight against Neglected Tropical Diseases.
The state’s Acting Commissioner for Health, Sabinus Nwibo, made the call at Ochudo Centenary City, Abakaliki, during the commemoration of the 2025 World NTDs Day.
Represented by the Director of Public Health and Disease Control in the ministry, Dr. Hyacinth Ebenyi, the commissioner observed that NTDs include Onchocerciasis (River Blindness), Lymphatic Filariasis (Elephantiasis), Schistosomiasis, and Soil-Transmitted Helminthiasis, as well as Trachoma.
The commissioner stated that the disease affect majorly people living in extreme poverty in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, stressing that they are prevalent in poor rural and disadvantaged urban communities with poor sanitation, inadequate access to clean water and substandard housing conditions.
He commended the Ebonyi State Governor, Rt. Hon. Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru, and his wife, Mrs. MaryMaudline Uzoamaka Nwifuru, for their efforts to improve the health of Ebonyi residents.
On their parts, Carter Centre Programme Officer, Dr. Christopher Nwuzor, and the HOD, Biology Department, Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu Alike Ikwo (AE-FUNAI), Dr. Chioma Anorue, described the Neglected Tropical Diseases as chronic.
They implored everyone to join in the fight against NTDs through public enlightenment campaigns, to enable people to take the drugs supplied by the Carter Centre free of charge for prevention and treatment.
On his part, the Programme Coordinator, Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), Scientist Ifeanyi Nwofoke, urged those living with the conditions not to think that anybody is responsible for the sickness, as some usually believe their enemies or village people are behind it, but to accept and use the medication given to them.
This year’s commemoration of the world NTDs day featured a road walk and a one-minute silence in honor of the founder of the Carter Centre and former American President, Jimmy Carter, who died recently.
This year’s observance of NTDs day has as its theme: “Unite, Act to Eliminate NTDs.”
