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Thursday, July 31, 2014

Environmental health, solution to Nigeria's healthcare problems-Prof Amadi

By Mohammed Sani Garba

The 25th inaugural lecture of Federal University of Technology, Owerri [FUTO] will continue to be remembered for a long time due its uniqueness, timeliness and the full attendance it garner. The lecture was delivered by the ‘People’s Professor’, Professor of public health and specialist in environmental health and safety, Head of Department, Public Health, and Coordinator, Environmental Health Program, FUTO-Prof A. N. Amadi titled ‘Environmental Health: The dynamics, application, implications and way forward in Nigeria’s healthcare delivery system’.
In his opening remarks, the Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof CC Asiabaka describe inaugural lecture as a lecture when a professor worth the name would come and tell the world and academia  who s/he is and what s/he has been professing, his contributions to the academia and the development of the society via his research, etc.
Prof Amadi describe environmental health as a polyvalent public health field which was defined in various way; for instance, some make references to the relationship between people and environment, others focus on abating/mitigating hazards, yet some see it as promoting health and enhancing environment, while others extend more broadly to aspect of the social and built environment.
He therefore said that environmental health is ‘complex’ or ‘many things’, an interdisciplinary professional and academic field, an area of research and an area of applied public health practice.
Based on these, he stated that environmental health is a basic science of public health practice that is concern with the technologies of promoting health, preventing disease, and prolonging life through well-organized integrated environmental interventions based on community participation, institutional effort/support and integrated research.
On the dynamics of environmental health in Nigeria, it dated back to 3 periods, pre-independence [1860-1960]; post independence [1969-1999]; and 21st century era. In the later period, Environmental Health Council of Nigeria was established, practice guide for environmental health practitioners was produced, approval of Benchmark Minimum Academic Standard [BMAS] by National Universities Commission, among others.
The application of environmental health, Prof Amadi stated is quite wide and it is all about organization of its services which in Nigeria covers 18 components, like environmental health control of housing and sanitation, epidemiological investigation of disease and control, water resources management and sanitation, control of frontiers, air and seaport, and border crossings, among others. But factors like wrong priorities, lack of political will, preference of curative than preventive health, restriction of decision making to very few practitioners, etc are among the factors currently influencing performance of environmental health practice in Nigeria.

On the implication of environmental health, Prof Amadi said that it is two phase, adequate and inadequate. The later leads to public health implications that include social misery, especially for women, the elderly and children; widespread damage to human health and child survival prospects; pollution to the living environment and water resources; and depressed economic productivity and human development.
The former results in multiplier effects on virtually all aspects of life and overall development of the country, some of which include decrease in mortality and morbidity rates of sanitation related diseases; increase in productivity and reduction of poverty, improvement of nutrition and the physical mental growth of children; improvement of school enrolment, attendance and performance; and increase in the survival of people living with HIV/AIDS, among others.
On the way forward, Prof Amadi recommended the following among others, environmental health practitioners should have enough will power to do what is right and urgent, decision making in the health sector should be extended by the key players to as many practitioners in the field as necessary, current environmental health services facilities should be renewed and upgraded, new ones should be built.
In his closing remark, the Vice Chancellor FUTO, appreciated and commended the inaugural lecturer for saying it all on the topic and his contributions in the field of environmental health practice in Nigeria. He challenged others to propose their topic so that the lecture could be done on monthly basis.
Participants expressed happiness over the large turnout, which they describe as the biggest inaugural lecture attended above the capacity of the lecture hall, and the relevance of the topic in contemporary Nigeria’s development.

Prof Amadi is a registered and certified sanitarian, Fellow, Society of Environmental Health, Fellow, Institute Industrial Administration , Associate member of Nigeria Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Fellow, Royal Society for Public health [UK], and an active consultant to various governmental and private sector in the country among others.