The Medical and Health Workers Union,
Lagos State Council, on Saturday said that it would embark on public
enlightenment to discourage consumption of soaked garri for now to
prevent Lassa Fever.
Mr Razak Adeofalade, the Chairman of the union stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
According
to him, the house rats that caused Lassa Fever are mostly in contact
with Nigerian most staple food garri, a cassava product.
``We
are going to encourage members of the public to depart from the process
of drinking gari at this moment, it is better that the cassava flour is
utilised for `eba,’ because of the use of hot water.
``We
are waging total war and that is: `War against Rats,’ and that is what
we are going to do to ensure we do not have another victim of Lassa
Fever in the state.
``We will also be telling them
to ensure that their fruits and raw vegetables are properly washed if
they must be consumed raw and cook to the appropriate temperature.
``The whole essence is to enlighten our people because education carries a lot of weight in this whole activity,’’ he said.
Adeofalade added that the union was also calling for adaptation of best practices for food storage to prevent epidemic.
According to him, the union is determined to wage war against rat in the state and public enlightenment on fighting epidemic.