Niger Launches the Schistosomiasis and Soil-transmitted Helminth Treatment Campaign in Tahoua and Maradi Regions
Several school-aged children where treated during the ceremony and the Minister of Health, the Vice-Governor of Tahoua Region, Howard Thompson of SCI and a WHO representative, delivered the first treatments of the regional campaign. The Honourable Ari Ibrahim then treated himself to emphasise the importance of treatment to the citizens of Rouafi. The mass treatment campaign in the regions of Tahoua and Maradi was scheduled to continue throughout the week of April 25-May 1, 2005. |
In
October 2004 Niger’s national schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted control
programme (PNLBG) launched their national campaign and treated 800,000
people in the Niger River Valley. On April 25, 2005 the Honourable Ari
Ibrahim, Niger’s Minister of Health, launched the Tahoua and Maradi Regional
treatment campaign. The ceremony was held in the small endemic village of
Rouafi, near the town of Birni’N Konni in the Region of Tahoua. The village
of Rouafi is on the banks of a permanent lake and has an established fishing
industry.
The
Minister of Health encouraged the citizens of the region to participate in
the mass treatment campaign (intended to treat 1.1m people in the two
regions) and invited everybody to actively work for a healthier Nigerien
population. The Vice-Governor of the Tahoua Region, Mr. Howard Thompson from
SCI, and the Mayor of Bazaga Commune all gave speeches in support of the
programme. The launch was attended by hundreds of citizens from the village
of Rouafi, both departmental and regional governmental officials,
representatives from the WHO and the Institut Pasteur (CERMES), and other
organisations with interests in public health and health service delivery in
Niger. The launch was covered by both national and local television and
radio stations and in local newspapers.
In
addition, a singing troupe of young girls from the town of Goumbi’N Kano
performed a song they had prepared on schistosomiasis (along with other
songs about HIV/AIDS and Polio) twice during the launch ceremony. The song
provided explanations on how schistosomiasis is transmitted and described
the importance of the mass treatment campaign.