Length-weight relationship of fishes from Anambra ... - Zoo-unn.org

UBACHUKWU, Patience Obiagelithem, their communities did not continue tosponsor their transportation to collect drugsfrom the headquarters and consequently, someof them got discouraged and stopped thecollection. Some of them resorted to charging atoken amount to anybody that would like tocollect the drug. The members of somecommunities stopped taking the drugs becausethey could not afford to pay for them.2. Late arrival of drugs: One of theproblems reported at the headquarters was latearrival of ivermectin. This resulted in delays indelivering the drugs to the communitydistributors.3. Communication problems: Therewas no regular means of communicationbetween the community distributors and theheadquarters. Consequently, there was need tocontinue checking the headquarters from timeto time until the drug arrived. As a result of thetransportation costs, some got frustrated andstopped further efforts.4. Transportation problems: Many ofthe communities are far from the localgovernment headquarters and there are nogood roads and no regular means of transport.Many transporters ply Umulokpa (theheadquarters) only on their market days.Consequently, it was not easy for thedistributors to easily check for drugs in theabsence of adequate communication.5. Ignorance: Most people interviewed inall the communities knew that a drug wasdistributed to them but did not know thedisease for which the drug was distributed.They did not also know all the rules guiding thetaking of the drug. In two communities, Adabaand Nkpologu, they recorded one and twodeaths respectively after taking the drug. Thisdiscouraged many from taking the drug. In onecommunity, Uvuru, there was propagandaagainst the use of the drug. The allegation 60 wasthat there was an attempt to reduce theirpopulation using the drug.Recommendations on How to OvercomeSome of the Problems1. Strengthening the ivermectindistribution programme: Since 1996, WHOunder the African programme forOnchocerciasis Control in collaboration with theFederal Ministry of Health and nongovernmentaldevelopment Organizations(NGDO) has been undertaking free distributionof ivermectin in Uzo-Uwani Local GovernmentArea. There is need to make the distributionmore effective by supplying enough drugs tothe area and monitoring its distribution to thevarious communities. Also, a more effectivetraining of the Community Directed Distributors(CDDs) selected from the individualcommunities for the drug distribution isrequired. Cost recovery as reported byAmazigo et al. (1998) and Hopkins (1998) isone of the ways of sustaining the distribution ofMectizan in the rural areas. This involvespayment of a token fee by every family thatreceives Mectizan treatment. In a report bythe WHO/APOC Community Directed Treatmentwith Ivermectin (CDTI) Project EvaluationTeam in Ekiti State (Akogu et al., 2003), theyrecommended better planning, monitoring andsupervision, training, integration of activities,proper funding and provision of transport bothat the state and local government levels toensure effective distribution of ivermectin.2. Nodulectomy: Nodulectomy (noduleexcision) is a common and generally acceptedtreatment procedure in Uzo-Uwani LocalGovernment Area. From interactions with thepeople of the area, they are willing to removethe nodules. Their only hindrance is the cost ofthe removal (Ubachukwu, 2001a). In the healthcentres and health posts, the personnel to dothe removal are available but the materials touse are not readily available. The people withnodules are expected to provide these materialsand many of the people cannot afford them.They, therefore, either go to quacks for theremoval or leave the nodules. It isrecommended that nodulectomy be sponsoredin these communities in addition to the on-goingdrug distribution. The Ministry of Health shouldprovide these materials to the health personnelin the affected communities.Major recommendations to be made from theresults of the studies are shown in Figure 1.These include: