Marketing a #LassaFreeLagos to Fagba Market
Ayangbile Ademola and Remilekun Taiwo
Alert Officers for Agege and Ifako-Ijaiye LGAs
Are you aware that the Lassa Fever virus is endemic in Nigeria, and that outbreaks have been recorded in 19 states of the Federation? No? This field story will change that.
The Ifako Ijaiye Local Government Area (LGA) is a well-populated area in Lagos, home to residences and places of business. The Fagba Market is a nexus of retail activity, with a large concentration of food item retailers, motorists, commercial vehicle riders and trade mechanics. These groups are adequately represented by trade associations in this LGA as well.
Yesterday, the Alert Officers at Ifako-Ijaiye and Agege LGA spent daylight hours with different groups in the market, to complete a sensitisation exercise on the prevention of Lassa Fever. The overall goal was to make this information available to encourage positive health behaviour,such as hand washing, food and environmental hygiene. In addition, emphasis was laid on the importance of spotting possible symptoms of Lassa Fever and early reporting to health authorities.
This is readily facilitated through our platform, AlertClinic and made possible by our work with the Lagos State Primary Healthcare Board and the Lagos State Ministry of Health.
On this beautiful Monday, I the Alert officer of Ifako-Ijaiye and also the Alert Officer of Agege went on sensitization at the Fagba market, where we spoke to a lot of people about Lassa fever, how they can ensure the safety of their homes and communities at large.
Many of the persons we spoke with posited a number of key points:
- They had heard of Lassa fever before,
- They were not fully aware of the causes and prevention of Lassa Fever.
These points were addressed in our interactions, where we emphasized the importance of keeping the environment clean and free from rats and other types of rodents, keeping their kitchen and food storage spaces clean, covering food items appropriately and thorough, consistent handwashing.
Our audience was very receptive, and we received positive comments, such as, “Keep up the good work in Lagos”, and “Eko o ni baje’’. A number of vendors went a step further by calling on each other to listen and keep away rats from their houses.
We believe that through these daily interactions and information sharing, we can achieve Lassa Fever-free communities in Lagos state and the entire country.
