For some time now, Nigeria has been under siege. Deadly diseases are ravaging the country. And like evil rain, they fall on helpless Nigerians, who already weakened by hunger and diseases, fall like dead leaves.
First, it was at Oju in Benue State, where yellow fever reportedly wiped out years ago struck as an unknown disease, taking in its wake precious young lives, and leaving in its trails tears stained faces of bereaved families. Then it spread, and efforts of government, likened to fire brigade and fire extinguishers came minutes late.
From Oju, it became the vogue in the whole country. All of a sudden, we seem to have woken up to the reality that we were living with deadly diseases. From yellow fever to measles, and then to the deadly cebro-spiral meningitis “ everybody seemed to be at a loss as to what was actually happening. These diseases, which came at a time AIDS was said to have penetrated Nigeria, no doubt call for serious attention. However, in the midst of these outbreaks we seem to have forgotten that the whole country has been living in the midst of diseases. That we have been cultivating them and cannot seriously assume that we were taken unawares.
Walking Zoos
A physician and an academic, once described Nigerians as walking zoos. He coined this phrase because, according to him, most Nigerians are sick and are undoubtedly carriers of deadly parasites. Whatever the merits, or otherwise of the assertion, the recent plague by these deadly diseases reveal the following: Firstly, that we cannot claim to be free from some diseases which have been wiped out from other parts of the world because they are still here with us. This reminds us of yellow fever said to have been wiped out in Nigeria but has suddenly re-emerged to cause considerable havoc. Beyond this claim is the fact that to date, there has been no systematic research to support the assertion of yellow fever having been wiped out. Furthermore, and following from the above is the fact that the rural populace have always been neglected “ and so because they are unreached, we could not have said, we have wiped out any diseases afflicting them. So, year in, year out, hundreds of people die of common diseases, which are not epidemic because the press has not noticed them “ and they have not been publicized.
Furthermore, unquite unlike the falsehood being dished out to unwary Nigerians, most people are sick. This is because, it is generally agreed that most diseases are social, in the sense that the regularity or frequency with which one falls sick or easily infected, is informed by whether one is living well or not. For instance, a rich man or well to do person who eats well-balanced nutritious food will be less prone to an attack. Conversely too, a poor who hardly gets food to eat or when eh eats them, they are hardly balance, will always be sick or fall easy prey to diseases or infections. The surroundings, level of cleanliness, good airy accommodation are always functions of ones social status in a stratified society.
It was in Zaria, last year when health policy makers, academicians, etc. gathered at a public lecture, during which it was agreed that cerebro-spiral meningitis (CSM) was a social disease. The logic which informed this assertion was this: If we look at conditions which give rise to the spread of CSM, such as poor accommodation, overcrowded housing, etc., rich people dont face such. Only the poor, wretched of the earth, face them. Therefore, in truth, they said CSM was a disease of the poor whose solution lies in changing their conditions of abject poverty.
What was said of CSM in Zaria last year, can be said for most other diseases which are affecting the people of this country. Thus, if a survey is carried out, it would be discovered that 90 percent of those dying daily from these diseases are the poor, who have been chawed for poverty and ignorance. Further, the nature of disease spread in Nigeria is a function of the disorganized state of things in Nigeria. For the health system, apart from the financial strangulation that it is being subjected to, it is not organized in such a way as to respond to any outbreak. Money for drugs are always siphoned elsewhere, and the health workers are unmotivated. The health sector, we should say, has become, like education, a conduit for the theft of public resources. So disorganized was the health sector that, vaccines aimed at combating the spread of CSM only arrived in the country from abroad, when the disease was subsiding. This was in spite of an advance warning given to the affected states by intellectuals and academicians.
So, we can see that, the diseases which are falling on us like rains, have a more fundamental solution, than the haphazard fire brigade approach. For to buy all the drugs in the world or build hospitals in every household in the country cannot solve the problems of epidemics. You do not deal with evil that falls like rain, by purchasing more umbrellas. In fact, the purchase of drugs or erection of hospitals, implies the acceptance of the fact that diseases will continue to disturb. Instead of creating more hospitals and purchasing more drugs, it is important to deal first of all with what gives rise to illness.
The social conditions which are created by the social system in Nigeria needs to be changed. When this is done, then health can be organized and the deliberating conditions of existence would then be removed. Until then, the evil of epidemics will continue to fall on us like rain.
By Rima Shawulu
The Standard, Thursday, February 5, 1985, page 4