By Akinwale Kasali
The outbreak of Coronavirus seems to have led to the neglect of Basic Primary Health Care. This has prompted a Non Governmental Organization, Community People’s Initiative Against Aids (COPEAIDS FOUNDATION), to express fears that many children may die in the face of growing neglect due to the increasing concentration on COVID-19 campaigns alone.
The Rights group advocated that all tiers of Government should not neglect, or brush aside the medical needs of over 20million children in Nigeria and a large number of pregnant women under the guise of channelling all health resources to COVID-19.
In a statement on Monday signed by its Executive Director, Feyisike Adeoye, the group said the strategy adopted for the COVID-19 fight disrupts routine services and threatens to weaken the health system of many vulnerable Nigerians.
The group called on Federal and State Governments not to allow the campaign against COVID-19 to take attention from primary health.
The group said authorities appear to have closed their eyes on primary health care resulting in consequences on children, pregnant women and the aged.
The estimate is based on an analysis by researchers from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. In its reaction to the report, UNICEF warned that these disruptions could result in potentially devastating increases in maternal and child deaths.
It lamented that COVID-19 has disrupted routine services and threatens to weaken the health system. UNICEF had said that globally, 6,000 additional children under five could die every day.
According to the group, most hospitals are refusing to attend to people who have symptoms similar to COVID-19 but may not necessarily be COVID-19 positive.
“High temperature, weakness of the body, loss of appetite are common symptoms of malaria. It is unfortunate that many private hospitals are sending many people back home on the basis of their symptoms which may not necessarily be COVID-19. We need to strike a balance. The health system should not be shut to Nigerians simply because of COVID-19 pandemic. We urge the State and Federal Governments to increase testing capacity and ensure Nigerians are not denied to necessary attention to their basic health needs because of the overwhelming focus on COVID-19.”
The group said that as COVID-19 continues to ravage the world, Nigerian authorities should pay attention to the warning from the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) which says additional 950 Nigerian children could die every day from preventable causes over the next six months.
“If we allow COVID-19 battle to take away our attention from other primary health needs, more children will die and the lives of many Nigerians will be put at risk” Adeoye said.
Across the country, primary health has been neglected. treatment of children, infants’ access to preventive care, provision of necessary vaccine for children under five and the treatment of malaria are being sacrificed because of COVID-19. This has to change”, it concluded.
