Public health experts have emphasised the need for Nigerians to keep good hygienic habit to curtail water borne diseases in the country.
Dr Muideen Olatunji, a public health expert stated in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibadan on Monday on the 2018 World Toilet Day.
“People should have good attitude towards disposing their solid human waste so as to take care of the environment.
“There are occurrences of cholera cases in some areas in Ibadan; if eight people are brought in for treatment of cholera there are three deaths; meaning that we record 25 per cent death as a result of cholera.
“This is because people dispose faeces on ground surface, shallow pit or beside water ways and this contaminate the water body hence the incidence of water borne diseases,” Olatunji said.
The expert enjoined people in communities to constitute themselves and build standardised latrines not close to water source to enjoy healthy life.
In a separate interview, Mrs Omolara Onafuye, a public health nurse at Zenith Hospital in Ibadan, urged Nigerians to attach great importance to hand washing as “it is a veritable way to have good health’’.
“People should know the importance of sanitation; cleaning of toilet as well as washing of hands before and after using the toilet to keep infection away.
“Nigerians don’t have to buy expensive things to sanitise their hands; soap and water will do a lot to keep germs away from the environment,” Onafuye said.
Onafuye further said that when people use the toilet, handling of things should not be done until they properly washed their hands.
NAN reports that the theme of the 2018 World Toilet Day is: ”When Nature calls”. (NAN)
