The Director-General of the Nigerian Agency For The Control Of AIDS (NACA), Dr Temitope Ilori has employed Nigerians to look inwards, to stop going abroad for treatment, emphasizing that there are resources in the country.
Disclosing this in Abuja at the World Family Doctor Day organized by the Society of Family Physicians of Nigeria (SOFPON), she noted that people who administer treatment overseas are still Nigerians.
According to her, “We have the resources on the ground, and we should look inwards, you know, even when you go abroad most of the time, the people you see are Nigerians. The doctors they are going over there to see are in Nigeria.
“We just need to be proud of our nation, become happy people, proud people, and the theme for today’s World Family Doctors Day talks about healthy planet, healthy people.
“So we’re saying one health, our planet needs to be healthy, our environment needs to be healthy, we have to keep our environment safe so that we can also be healthy.”
However, she implored the government to do more in terms of making available more health facilities that can be of great benefit to the country.
Explaining the term Family Doctor, she stated that a family doctor is a specialized generalist who is trained to offer at least 80% of the care an average Nigerian needs.
Speaking on the theme of the event, ‘Healthy Planet, Healthy People’, the Minister of State, Dr. Mariya Mahmud noted that the health of the people is nicely dependent on the status of the planet.
“We must therefore advocate and encourage Nigerians to adopt healthy living conditions. Let’s collectively invest in more deforestation and discourage deforestation,” she said.
Also, the chairman of SOFPON FCT-Keffi, Dr. Timothy Abuba, further stated that the planet has to be healthy for people to be healthy.
He explained that every tree serves a purpose, hence every home should be encouraged to have a tree in their home.
He further stressed that the problem the planet is facing presence, the thinning of the ozone layer, the greenhouse effect, the rise in ocean level and heat waves are all effects of some things humans do and use He advised humans to restore nature to normal by planting trees, embracing renewable energy as well as reducing the number of cars on the road to minimize the dangerous smoke emanating from vehicles, adding that these can help limit the decrease of the ozone layer.
He said, “We heard it today that the temperature average that we have now is 15 degrees centigrade and any day reaches 19.5, the world will crash. We also heard that every year, the temperature is increasing by one or two percent, so if we don’t do something now, in less than four years the world may cease to be what it is.”
