Ondo State Ministry of Health in collaboration with the Ondo State Primary Health Care Development Agency (OSPHCDA) supported by the Mission To Save the Helpless (MITOSATH) organized a 2-day technical review and planning meeting on the activities of the Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) in the State. The all inclusive meeting was held at the Grand Capital Hotel in Akure, the State capital.

Speaking at the event, the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Banji Awolowo Ajaka noted that the meeting was critical in order for the State to know the success and the challenges NTDs was going through in the State. He informed the meeting that the unit had made significant achievements in combating the four major NTDs in Ondo State which are Schistosomiasis, Onchoceriasis, Soil Helminths and Filariasis.
He noted that treatment programmes were implemented in the 18 Local Government Areas in the State with support from MITOSATH and he appreciated them for working hand in hand in finding a lasting solution to the problems of NTDs in the State.

While speaking on the objectives and the expected outcomes of the meeting, the State Coordinator of NTDs, Mrs Olanike Oladipupo said the technical review meeting was an annual event to assess the achievement and progress of the diseases as well as plan for the subsequent years.
She therefore urged Stakeholders to come together to deliberate on issues, note their observations and know and proffer solutions to the challenges facing the implementation of the treatment campaign in the State.

In the presentation of the State NTDs Data Manager, Mr. Babatunde Alabi noted that the intervention for NTDs started in 2001 and since then, different interventions had been coming for the disease under the NTDs umbrella with the mandate of initiating programmes and activities geared toward the control and possible elimination of the disease in the State.
In the 2023 NTDs report, Alabi explained a total of 114 local NTD, 1076 health workers and 10,608 Community Directed Distributors were trained under the NTDs programme. He elucidated that about 3,730,736 were treated for Onchoceriasis and 603,193 were for schistosomiasis.
He stated also that another programme for 2023 was pilot under the name "Crowd Sourced Image-Vased Morbidity Hotspot Survey" and about 173 cases were confirmed under the image based project.

On the slash and clear project along Edo and Ondo border communities, Alabi said the Ondo side recorded 51% reduction in the bite rate while the Edo side recorded 81% during the slash and clear exercise.
According to Alabi, some of the challenges identified for the 2023 exercise were over reliance on partners, security challenges, inadequate dissemination of information at the LGA level by the Education Officers and poor collaboration of NTDs and WASH at the local government level.

ONDO HEALTH MINISTRY REVIEWS 2023 NTDs ACTIVITIES