UNICEF treats over 60,000 Bauchi children on malaria, diarrhoea others

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has treated over 60,000 cases of malaria, pneumonia and diarrhoea in over 1,200 communities in Bauchi State.

The Guardian learnt that the Agency under its project sponsored by European Union had 1,200 volunteers called Community Oriented Resource Persons (CORPs) in their localities to link up hard-to-reach settlements.

Speaking in Toro local government, a health education officer, Mr Danjuma Malami said the health volunteers selected from 1,200 communities in November 2017 across the 20 LGAs in the state by UNICEF have contributed positively to the health sector in the state.

He disclosed that Toro local government has recently received 67 volunteers to cover the 17 wards of the LG. Danjuma commended EU-UNICEF for providing drugs, manpower and equipment.

Also, the supervisor of the CORPs in Bogoro local government, Mr Sumi Diga explained that the kits given to them contained drugs such as anti-malaria, paracetamol, zinc, rapid diagnostic test (RDT) kit and other first-aid drugs.

Diga said that members of their communities appreciate the medical services. “They have been told to refer any case that is beyond their power to proper PHCs,” he added.

While speaking with The Guardian yesterday, one of the volunteers CORPs, Adamu Salihu in Bogoro local government, said the project which started two years ago had offered him an opportunity to know about the medical profession, adding that some of them have been trained to handle first aid treatment in their settlements.

“Being a voluntary work, sometimes during the raining season, we normally experience a surge in cases of malaria; pneumonia and cough due to the weather. That means our insufficient and hard to reach PHCs will be more flooded, so, we are helping to reduce the load on the health facilities by attending to some of them at home,” he said.

A nursing mother in Kudum Durum in Bauchi local government, Hajiya Aisah Ahmad who took her son to one of the volunteers for malaria treatment said, “They have saved many children from dying of pneumonia and other diseases.”