Fire outbreaks, sickle cell crises, skin infections and others are common during the harmattan season. Experts offer pieces of advice on how to stay safe during the season, writes CHINAKA OKORO.
Jos, the Plateau State capital, has always been cold but it is now freezing. No thanks to the Harmattan. The temperature in the tin city has dropped to as low as 6.7 degrees Celsius, with residents apprehensive that the weather might worsen.
Other parts of the North, such as Kaduna, Kano and Taraba, especially the Mambilla Plateau, have also witnessed serious drop in temperature.
Coastal cities, such as Lagos and Rivers, are also feeling the hard knocks of the season. Almost nowhere in the country is free from the harsh effects of the season.
Fire outbreaks, skin infections, sickle cell crises and many more have been identified with the season; so experts are offering pieces of advice of how to stay safe.
Sickle cell patients to keep warm
A Senior Registrar, Pulmonology Unit, Jos University Teaching Hospital(JUTH), Dr Chung- Gyang Shedrack, has advised sickle cell patients to keep themselves warm during the harmattan cold.
Shedrack also alerted the residents on a likely increase in skin infections during the inclement weather.
Dr Shedrack said patients who suffer from sickle cell and were anaemic were likely to experience worsening of their conditions during the unfriendly weather.
He said: “Sickle cell patients are prone to crisis in this period of cold; they will have to stay very warm, take a lot of fluid, go for medical checks with their doctor and take medications adequately so that they do not have worsening crisis.”
Shedrack advised the public to avoid dusty environment and also take lozenges such as strepsils, tom-tom and menthol to suppress coughs, lubricate and soothe irritated tissues of the throat.
He said there was worsening or an increase in prevalence in skin infections, advising that there was need to take lots of water to protect the skin.
The physician added that cold had harmful effects on the body, especially the respiratory system which led to ailments such as cough, asthma, upper airways infections from viruses, bacteria such as coryza, which is common cold.
Shedrack further said: “We can have a provocation of asthma, hypersensitivity of the airwaves which is close to asthma, the cardiovascular system can also have some form of arrhythmia which is abnormal beating of the heart. One can have a slowing of the heart, nose and ear infections.”
How to prevent fire outbreak
The Commandant, Jigawa Command, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Alhaji Garba Muhammad, said it was important to avoid fire disasters, especially in the rural areas where thatch houses were many.
Muhammad, in a statement by the Command’s Spokesman, Adamu Shehu, advised the people to be careful in handling fire and heating equipment in homes and offices.
“To avoid further occurrence, the public should be cautious because most fire mishaps happened during harmattan period because of the need to keep rooms warm or boil water for bathing and other purposes.
“In the process, people tend to forget to put off the heating equipment or the fire source and go to sleep.
“Office workers must ensure they switch off all electronic appliances at the close of work. Sometime, fire incidents occur because the firewoods were not put out after cooking.
“Therefore, residents, particularly rural dwellers, must be careful while using fire during harmattan. This is because fire, particularly during the harmattan, can escalate and consume valuables, including houses and even human lives,” he said.
Muhammad advised house wives to ensure that they quenched fire used in cooking immediately after to avoid fire outbreak.
He added that people should also be careful while using candles and kerosene lanterns in their homes, as they were capable of causing fire outbreak.
Protect your wards against cold-related diseases
The Director of Womanhood School of Health Science, Kaduna, Nurudden Bello, wants parents to protect their wards to avert contracting cold-related illnesses.
Bello urged parents to help keep their children and the elderly warm to protect them against the effect of the season.
He also advised commercial motorcyclists, popularly known as okada riders, to use mask and eye-glasses to avoid the harsh weather condition.
Bello said: “Extreme cold weather can lead to serious health issues to the elderly, such as hypothermia, while kids can also be affected with cold-related diseases, if exposed to the harsh weather.
Bello said exposing children to extreme cold could lead to low body temperature, hypothermia, frostbite and even death, while exercising in the cold weather by the aged could result in heart attacks and stroke.
“Some adults can lose body heat fast, even faster than when they were young, and aging comes with changes in the body system that may make it harder for elderly people who expose themselves to extreme cold weather,” Bello said.
He attributed the extremely harsh weather in some parts of the country to climate change, desertification, deforestation and environmental degradation.
“One of the reasons why northern Nigeria and some parts of Africa are facing this kind of harsh weather is as a result of climate change, desertification and environmental degradation,” Bello said.
He advised the authorities to sensitise the public to cold-related diseases and respiratory infections, such as conjunctivitis, common cold, asthma, cough, catarrh and tonsillitis, pneumonia, sickle cell crisis, eye problems, bronchitis and dry skin, among other illnesses.
He advised the elderly people to wear clothes that will keep them warm, hand gloves and socks as well as glasses to protect their eyes.
“They should also use jelly for their lips, skin, necks and faces, and drink plenty water to prevent dehydration,” the expert said.
Bello called on the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) and other environmental-related non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) to create more awareness on the dangers of bush burning, especially during the harmattan period.
NGO donates relief materials
The Guild of Medical Directors, Bauchi State chapter, on Saturday donated 200 blankets to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) taking shelter near Rindubin Community on Bauchi-Gombe Road, Bauchi.
The guild said the donation was to reduce the suffering of the IDPs during the current harmattan season.
The state Chairman of the guild, Dr Hassan Garba, said the gesture was to protect the IDPs against excessive cold and associated diseases.
“The donation is in an effort to prevent the IDPs, especially women and children, from being exposed to common diseases associated with this cold weather. We hope to bring more of this next time,” he said.
Malam Lawal Gujja, who received the items on behalf of the IDPs, thanked the guild for the gesture and promised to ensure that women and children benefited more from the items.
“We thank you for bringing these blankets to us. I will make sure that women and children are the first to benefit,” he said.
Lagos cautions residents
Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu advised Lagosians to take precautionary measures to prevent fire disasters because of the prevailing harmattan weather which aids the spread of fire outbreak. The governor, who spoke through the Commissioner for Special Duties and Inter -Governmental Relations, Dr Wale Ahmed, said the people should be cautious because the current low humidity helps fire to spread fast, leading to the numerous fire outbreaks which have been recorded in parts of the country and the the rest of the world.
The governor advised Lagosians to always switch off all electrical appliances and unplug them while leaving their homes. This also applies to markets and shops in the metropolis.
The Commissioner of Special Duties quoted the governor as saying that “if there is no spark, there won’t be spread of fire.”
Sanwo -Olu also advised Lagosians to keep gas cylinders in an open space, away from their kitchens, to prevent fire disasters even in the case of a leakage. He called on the people to invest in basic fire-fighting equipment, such as fire extinguishers, to deal with fire incidents before they could spread. He also cautioned against the use of fireworks at this time of harmattan, noting that they could lead to fire disasters if they fall on combustible materials.
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