Yobe State governor Mai Mala Buni has taken the fight against kidney disease ravaging the state to the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
The governor, in a meeting with renowned epidemiologists, Prof. Neil Peace, said the state has lost many people living on the banks of River Yobe to kidney failure, with many more now patients of the disease.
“The figure of people dying and others as patients is very worrisome and that calls for quick action to save the communities. I am equally worried that a large number of the productive population are getting more affected,” a statement by his director-general, press and media affairs, quoted the governor as saying.
Buni called for a quick and active intervention to save the people, assuring that his administration was prepared for every partnership and collaboration that would provide a solution to this menace.
The governor said some data have been generated by the Yobe State Teaching Hospital to facilitate and fast track research and diagnosis for advanced study into the cause of the disease.
“I am optimistic that you would partner with us to find a solution to the disease to save our people and others in the neighbouring states also lined up along the banks of the river,” he said.
On his part, the internationally celebrated professor of epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene, said the data generated would be used to establish the causative agents which would lead to finding a solution.
“We have conducted studies in Malawi and Kenya in Africa, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka and India, we will work with you too to establish the cause of the disease,” Neil said.
He said though research on such diseases is very expensive, the collaboration would look for international funding to assist the research.
Also, Ben Caplin, a professor of nephrology at the University College, London, who specialises in population-based clinical and laboratory studies, said it was important to establish the causes of the disease.
He commended Governor Buni for his interest in finding a solution to this problem facing the communities.
