By Tosin Kolade
Dr Edwin Isotu-Edeh, National Consultant, Public Health and Environment, WHO Nigeria, has called on Nigerians to shun unhealthy and unsustainable practices that destroy the nations ecosystems, forests and wildlife.
Isotu-Edeh, who made this call at the ongoing 5th International Medical Geologists Association (IMGA) National Conference in Abuja, said there was the need to promote a one-health approach in implementing health programs.
He said to live healthy and free from pandemics, unhealthy behaviours such as poor sanitary practices, deforestation and consumption of bush meat and endangered species should be halted.
He noted that the effects of climate change were reflecting in our daily lives with occurrences of extreme weather conditions, floods and droughts.
Many zoonotic diseases thrive in the increasingly warmer, wetter conditions sparked by human-induced environmental degradation.
When there is a depletion of the ecosystem, it affects plants, animals, and man. This effect cannot be wished away because man is part of the environment and needs it to survive, he said.
According to him, civilization depends on human health, flourishing ecological systems, and the wise stewardship of natural resources.
He commended the current leadership of WHO Nigeria, led by Dr Walter Mulombo, for his unwavering commitment to environmental sustainability in health programmes.
He called on relevant stakeholders to understand that health meant complete wellbeing and beyond the absence of diseases and infirmities, we must adjust our behaviors towards prevention; and invest in environmental and planetary health.
The WHO Lead Public Health/Environment Health Expert in Nigeria said to have a healthy society, the nation must fix and regulate food production system, water and sanitation.
He said switching to sustainable agriculture, included safe management of dead bodies, and promote ecofriendly approach to mining of minerals, saying they were things that mattered.
Prof. Akinade Olatunji, the Chairman (Geology), IMGA, said the earth had the tendency to regenerate itself from mans pollution and all other unwholesome activities.
According to him, if humans desire to halt indiscriminate destruction of the environment, the environment was capable of restoring itself to order.
We can assist the depletion of the ozone layer by planting trees, recycling consciously, and looking out for resources that will help us to sustain the environment from damage.
We must do everything within our power to slow down the destruction of the climate before it is too late, he said.
Also, Dr Larai Salau, CEO, Initiative for Advancement of Mining, Earth Science and Environmental Protection (IAMESEP), said there was no mining activities that cannot be reclaimed.
She said,Therefore, we should plant both cash crops and food crops to balance the difference between carbon dioxide and oxygen exchange.
If we dont do this balancing, there will continue to be pandemics. We have to understand the environments effect on health and the socio-economic importance of the mining industry.
She added that the country could not wait to see how much carbon dioxide the atmosphere can handle before an environmental disaster occurred.
Prof. Abiodun Odukoya, Co-Chairman (Geology) IMGA said it was more expensive to cure diseases than to prevent them.
Conferences like what IMGA has organised today are to enlighten people on how to prevent future pandemics like COVID-19 that ravaged the world, she said.
She called on doctors, nurses, policy formulators, and all professionals in different fields to partner in building a pandemic-free environment. (NAN) www.nannews.ng
Edited by Mark Longyen/Isaac Aregbesola
Source: NAN News