Malaria: Medical practitioner urges Port Harcourt residents to ensure clean environment

A Medical Laboratory Scientist, Dr Chris Mbata, has called on the residents of Port Harcourt and indeed, Nigerians to ensure good sanitation to avoid Malaria.

Mbata, who made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Port Harcourt, said that cases of malaria had been increasing in the city since the rains intensified.

He said that residents would continue to suffer from malaria except they maintained a “very clean environment’’ where the vectors, mosquitoes that spread the illness could not breed.

The medical practitioner expressed worries that the attitude of some residents of the city to their environment encouraged the breeding of mosquitoes.

“We need to help ourselves by keeping our compounds clean and ensure that gutters are not blocked to promote stagnant waters.

“Residents need to promote actions that discourage the breeding of mosquitoes within their neighborhoods,’’ he said.

Mbata condemned the dumping of refuse in the drains, saying that such an act blocked the waterways and increased the breeding of mosquitoes.

“The rain has become heavier, the environment is now wet and untidy and many persons are being diagnosed with malaria.

“The way out is to keep our environment clean, we cannot run away from it, we can do this to avoid being ill with malaria,’’ he said.