#TrackNigeria: The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday said it had treated 515, 000 children for malaria, pneumonia and diarrhea in North East in 2018
WHO disclosed this in its 2018 annual report on intervention in the North East at the workshop on health reporting during emergencies organised for journalists in Yola.
It said the exercise was carried out under its Integrated Community Case Management of Childhood Illness (ICCM) in three states of the North East.
The ICCM programme was implemented across 980 communities in 53 local government areas of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe by 1, 125 WHO Community Resource Persons (CORPS).
“Specifically, CORPS consulted and treated more than 216,000 patients for various ailments; treated 68,820 children for malaria, 36,488 for pneumonia and 69,404 for diarrhea.
The organisation also said that it had screened 198,000 children for malnutrition using MUAC and provided 2,000 caregivers with health promotion messages on key household practices (KHHP).
It said the ongoing conflict in he region had seriously disrupted health-care system, leading to upsurge of outbreaks of preventable communicable diseases.
The report said WHO had engaged 113 mobile teams across Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, who provided integrated lifesaving interventions to people in hard-to-reach locations.
“Between January to December 2018, the team’s collectively immunized 2.5 million children against polio, measles, and diphtheria.
“The team also provided 1.6 million young women aged between 15 and-49 years with reproductive health services: treated more than 1.3 million people with minor ailments in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe and screened 1.1 million children for malnutrition in the three states,” the body said.
Other activities carried out by WHO, according to the organisation include de-worming of 748,545 children and supplemented 728,788 with vitamin A.
The body said it counseled and tested more than 28,000 pregnant women for HIV in security compromised communities in Yobe, while 425 positive clients were educated and counseled on prevention of mother-to-child transmission.
In addition, the mobile health teams provided invaluable support to WHO’s cholera response interventions in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe. (NAN)
