I am a Public Health specialist and it is our mission in Infozoonoses to create awareness about zoonoses in both rural and urban areas. In one of our findings, 90% of the rural dwellers do not know that some diseases are transmissible between human and animal. The ten percent that are aware only knows about bite from a rabid dog. So I visited a village in the northern part of Nigeria recently. The village is surrounded by water bodies that take their source from a large river through which I was able to get to the village.  

 On arrival I immediately asked to see the village head in order to tell him my mission in the village. One of the youths took me to his palace. The young man whose name was Abdul, asked me to wait outside so that he could inform the Chief about my presence. As I waited for him I looked around and noticed that the villagers started moving closer towards the palace. Obviously they were curious about their new visitors but they all wore smile on their face as they greeted me in their native dialect (I have earlier read about their culture and their greeting methods before now).  The children also ran around me but the elders tried chasing them. Before Abdul came out from the palace I was offered a chair under a tree by a group of young men outside the palace. Finally Abdul came out and told me that the village head was ready to see me.

Unexpectedly the village head was an average aged man who was quite literate and well tailored spoken English. He retired as a teacher in one of the government owned public schools in the city and decided to live among his people.  I told him my mission, to educate them about Schistosomiasis. I told him about the disease's epidemiology, the pathogenesis, the life-cycle of the trematode and the effect on animals and human especially children. Having heard me, he confirmed to have seen several of such case but he always thought it was sexually transmitted infection but some of the villagers often say the individuals were cursed. He often however wonders why such occurs in sexually immature children too. 

He asked the youth leader who was also present at that point to inform the people to gather for the talk about the disease. Within minutes I heard town criers shouting, obviously asking the villagers to report to the village square where the talk was supposed to take place.  While people moved to village square the village head discussed the difficulty in accessing health facilities and drugs which was quite obvious judging by the access to good road or even a speed boat that could take sick people to the city. Another problem is that health officers tend to neglect the area because of security reasons. So a large percent of them do not benefit from vaccination programs or other favorable health programs.  

After about thirty minutes I and the village head walked to the village square. The place was already crowded but the youth leader had provided a place for us to sit. An interpreter was appointed by the youth leader but the village head also corrected him as I educate the villagers on the disease. One of the women informed me that her last son urinated blood a week ago and she had same experience with her eldest son too so she did not consider it serious. I advised them on the preventive and the control measures. To confirm such however I informed them about how necessary it was for them to visit Hospital. We further discussed the effect on young children such as distorted growth and loss of blood and adult such as cancer and obviously loss of blood. However there were obvious difficulties encountered by the villagers. 

Some of the problems highlighted by the villagers include

·         Accessibility to health facilities

·         Access to clean water

·         Uncontrolled human defecation in water bodies

·         Access of pigs and cattle to the village source of water for drinking and bathing

·         Cultural beliefs

·         Lack Public health awareness

·         Insecurity

·         Flood

 

The government and NGOs have a lot to do for this people. It is up to the government to create the enabling environment where the NGOs can come and work. The scarcity of the drug of choice, Praziquantel, is quite obvious. The drug is quite cheap and regular deworming regime should be encouraged. Regarding visits by health officers, village heads needs to be carried along on health related programs that will benefit the villagers because these rural dwellers suffers the most and about 70% of our population in Nigeria lives in the rural area. Government can collaborate with NGOs like Bill and Melinda Gate Foundation and Carter Center that are interested in tackling neglected tropical diseases like Schistosomiasis. Such partnership can improve sanitation level in the villages and also make available the drugs, and even help build awareness about other diseases that the villagers' daily lifestyle can encourage to manifest.