The wife of the Ogun governor, Mrs Bamidele Abiodun, on Monday in Abeokuta flagged off the campaign against Hepatitis B in commemoration of the World Hepatitis Day celebration.
Abiodun, alongside the state Deputy Governor, Mrs Noimot Salako-Oyedele, joined other medical personnel from the Ministry of Health and other stakeholders to flag off the campaign.
The event, which was celebrated in Ogun with the support of Rotary International, featured a free test at the Primary Health Centre in Sango-Ota area of the state.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the World Hepatitis Day is globally observed to raise awareness of Hepatitis and encourage prevention, diagnosis and treatment.
The governor’s wife, who described Hepatitis as a most dreaded disease, urged stakeholders to create wider awareness through sensitisation.
“As part of activities for the World Hepathitis Day celebration, we are here on public awareness; the first step of the eradication process through our ‘Zero Project’ is to curtail the spread of the disease and eliminate the virus to zero level.
”We are also here to conduct free test and give out treatment to people for prevention and cure,” she said.
The governor’s wife noted that, though, it is a global initiative, the Ogun government had adopted it to guarantee healthy life for citizens.
While expressing her confidence in the World Hepatitis Commission, she assured of government’s readiness to follow global guidelines and campaigns through testing and vaccination.
“This opportunity is loaded with benefits and we have carefully chosen Sango to begin with.
“The campaign across the 20 local governments will enable people know their status, help alienate the danger called HPV and also indirectly create jobs and engage the people in all the local governments,” Abiodun said.
She, however, advised the people to always go for test, avoid multiple sexual partners and serve as campaigners in their homes.
