The Catholic Women Organisation (CWO) Chapter of the Divine Physician and St. Luke Catholic Church, Idi-Araba, Lagos, gave out free malaria treated nets as well as malaria treatment and prevention drugs.
The event which took place on Saturday was part of the organisation’s Mothers’ Day celebrations and contribution to the campaign against malaria.
Speaking to The Next Edition, the President of the organisation, Mrs. Ngozi Onyejiaka, who is a Medical Laboratories Scientist with the University of Lagos Teaching Hospital (LUTH), said the campaign was organised in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health.
“Part of our spirituality and responsibility as CWO of a hospital chaplaincy is to care for our members, but our core ministry is to care and visit the children admitted in the wards of LUTH.
“So, on the note of care, we decided to do something more serious for Mothers’ Day. We wrote to the Federal Ministry of Health requesting for malaria commodities and they graciously approved a donation of 2, 000 Rapid Diagnostic Test kits (RDT) 1, 500 dozes of anti-malaria drugs for adults, 500 dozes for children and 200 pieces of mosquito treated nets,” she explained.
She explained further that the campaign was targeted at members of the chaplaincy primarily and it’s immediate environment.
Over 500 people were tested over malaria and given the appropriate drugs.
According to Mrs Onyejiaka, “all those who tested positive were given treatment because there are cases of reservoir hosts. These are people circulating or having the malaria parasite at detectable levels. So those that tested positive much as they were not having malaria symptoms got treated. Those who outrightly tested positive and also presented malaria symptoms were also treated while those who tested negative were given malaria prevention medicines.”
READ ALSO: Fertility doctor uses own sperm to impregnate women
Expectant mothers and mothers with children under five were given mosquito treated nets.
The CWO president expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the programme.
Her words: “The response was overwhelming. We didn’t expect to have that many participants but we were able to overcome because we had co-opted interns and nurses from LUTH who were available to assist and in an organised manner, they were able to test and dispense the drugs accordingly.”
Some of the beneficiaries of the programme commended the organisation for the efforts.
Miss Jessica Nwachukwu, a JSS 2 student told The Next Edition that she was happy to be part of the programme noting that it had made some difference in people’s lives. “I think what they have done is healthy. They just did the test for us and gave us anti-malaria drugs. Everything is well organised and it has helped people to know whether they are positive or negative. Without this free testing many people may not bother to do any test to know whether they are positive or negative. The pregnant women and nursing mothers also got treated nets. It’s impressive,” she said.
For Mrs. Blessing Ofojama, an expectant mother, what the CWO did helped a lot of people.
Her words: “What they have done today is very nice. They have done it to help people. I was tested and found to be negative so they gave me anti-malaria drugs and a mosquito treated net because of my pregnancy. I want to thank them and I pray God will bless them.”
According to statistics, 97% of the population is at risk of malaria while the remaining 3% live in malaria free highlands.
