The Acting Director General, National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mrs. Ngozi Ekeoba has tasked staff of the Agency to boost kidney disease prevention in Nigeria through vigorous and sustained mass enlightenment.
She gave the charge during a one-day Kidney Disease Prevention and Early Detection sensitization programme organized by the Agency in collaboration with the Julie Donli Kidney Foundation (JDKF) in Abuja for staff of the Agency as part of activities to mark the 2016 World Kidney Day.
Ekeoba said the statutory responsibility of public enlightenment mass mobilization and social re-orientation of citizens on all issues of public concern rests on the Agency. Consequently, she said, the Health Orientation platform of the Agency had been deployed to first of all educate staff of the Agency on prevention, risk factors and available help facilities for kidney disease patients with a view to helping them keep their kidneys healthy. She however added that, having armed the staff with relevant information, they are expected to help disseminate same using the same Health Orientation and other platforms of the Agency.
In her remarks, the founder, JDKF, Barrister Julie Donli, represented by Barrister Chinyere Okpara encouraged patients of kidney diseases to undergo treatment in Nigeria as against going abroad as it is cheaper, prevents capital flights and has recorded good success rate. She canvassed prevention and early detection as the best approach to handling kidney cases, urging Nigerians to regularly subject themselves to medical tests to determine the condition of their kidneys.
A consultant Nephrologist with the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Gwagwalada, Dr. Manmak Mamven urged Nigerians to avoid tobacco, limit alcohol intake, drink 1.5 to 2 liters of water daily, avoid self-medication and abuse of over the counter drugs and undergo yearly kidney screening in order to prevent kidney diseases and kidney failure.