Akwa Ibom State has so far recorded four confirmed cases of monkey pox between January and August 2024.
This was disclosed by the Disease Surveillance and Notification Officer in the State Ministry of Health, Samuel Etuk, during the Breakthrough ACTION-Nigeria’s Media Partnership Strengthening and Review Meeting in Uyo, the state capital on Wednesday.
He disclosed that out of the four cases, two came from Uyo, one from Nsit Ubium, and the other one from Onna Local Government Areas of the state, noting that their age brackets fall within two, four and 15 of three males and one female.
Etuk, who spoke on the “Role of the Media in Mpox Public Health Emergency Response,” said the media have the onus of giving consistent and real-time information about any disease outbreak vis a vis mpox.
He said, “In Akwa Ibom, we have four confirmed cases, and those cases have been managed so far. So we have some preventive measures, we should carry out hand washing exercise regularly, we are supposed to go to the hospital when we have signs and symptoms, we should not have self medications.
“The Mpox virus can spread both from animal to human and from human to human. Animal-to-human transmission may occur by direct contact with the blood, body fluids, skin, or mucosal lesions of infected animals.
“There is no specific treatment for the virus, so people should be cautious of physical contact and maintain personal hygiene. Journalists should enlighten the public on our behalf because their voices can reach where ours cannot.”
In her remarks, the Programme Officer, Social and Behaviour Change, BA-N, Nkoyo Umoh, charged the media to amplify the message of the need for adherence to proven infection prevention and control measures as spelt out.
Umoh noted that through effective media engagements, the perceptions and behaviour of the people towards Mpox disease would be changed for the better.
