Coronavirus: UI health experts send important message Makinde, Sanwo-Olu over COVID-19

- The team of urban health researchers from the University of Ibadan has charged Makinde and Sanwo-Olu over coronavirus pandemic

- Professor Akinyinka Omigbodun, the team lead, urged the task force on COVID-19 in Lagos and Oyo to pay attention to the urban slum to prevent community spread of the pandemic

- Omigbodun also asked the two states to consider creating access points for COVID-19 testing in the slum communities

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The University of Ibadan urban health research team has advised Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos state and his Oyo counterpart, Seyi Makinde, to deploy the COVID-19 task force teams to urban slums in their states in order to prevent community transmission of coronavirus.

Legit.ng's regional reporter in Ibadan, Ridwan Kolawole, reports that the head of the team, Prof. Akinyinka Omigbodun, stated this on Wednesday, April 29, in Ibadan, the capital of Oyo state.

The UI urban health research team, which is funded by the National Institute for Research (NIHR) UK, carried out stakeholder engagements in Bariga, Idi-Ikan, and Sasha slum communities in Lagos and Oyo states.

According to the health experts, the slum communities in question displayed poor adherence to advisories on prevention issued by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) due to the peculiar nature of their communities.

The team also asked the two states to consider creating access points for COVID-19 testing in the slum communities.

Omigbodun said that non-adherence to preventive measures and lack of protective kits such as sanitisers and facemasks could negatively affect efforts at curtailing the spread of the virus.

He called on the governors to engage in massive sensitisation in these and other slum communities, as well as distributing free face masks and hand sanitisers free of charge in slum communities.

The don maintained that the distribution of palliatives must reach urban slum dwellers who have become very vulnerable owing to the lull in economic activities.

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The research team also asked that primary health care professionals be equipped with personal protection kits to prevent them from being exposed to infection before patients are transferred to test and isolation centers.

"The access and utilisation of health facilities in urban slums are not encouraging. With COVID-19, the governments of the two states need to do more about community sensitisation, the supply of palliatives, and the provision of testing facilities in slum communities.

"We also found that health care professionals are not supplied with sufficient numbers of personnel protective equipment. This is not good enough, considering the crucial role they play in health service delivery at the community level," he said.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that the federal government said the gradual easing of restrictions on activities and movements should not be mistaken to mean life has returned to normal in the country.

The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and chairman of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on the coronavirus pandemic, Boss Mustapha, gave the warning on Thursday, April 30, during the daily press briefing by the task force in Abuja.

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Source: Legit.ng