Environmental Health Council Gets Legal Instrument On Operational Documents
BY NGOZI NWANKWO
Environmental Health Council of Nigeria (EHCN), has received legal backing on two operational documents deigned to enhance and sustain environmental health practice in the country.
The documents are the EHCN’s Service Charter and Gazetted Practitioners Register, just as the customised seal for practitioners, rank badges, as well as communication materials have been unveiled.
Minister of Environment, Mr. Mohammed Abdullahi, who announced this in Abuja at the recently concluded 3-Day National Environmental Health Business Forum, organised by EHCN, said that every professional must work within the stipulated guidelines and standards, especially on issues pertaining to climate change.
He explained that the seal for the practitioners and gazetted names of operators in the environmental health sector could be verified in the country.
Abdullahi further said at the Forum with the theme; “Developing Sustainable Environmental Health Business Model in Support of Nigeria’s Economic Diversification Drive”, said that the federal government had in the last two decades, facilitated the growth of the profession, adding that the ministry made the sector more viable and flourishing due to its involvement in reducing diseases in environmental health sector.
The minister listed unsafe water, poor hygiene and sanitation, disease vectors, chemical hazards, injuries and accidents as the major cause of mortality rate in Africa.
Abdullahi said; “It is expedient to know that the success of the profession is in the hands of the professionals who should work towards making it thrive.”
The minister therefore advised professionals on the need to develop a sustainable framework that would create job opportunities within environmental health value chain.
In her remarks, the Polish Ambassador to Nigeria, Joanna Magdalena Tarnawska commended the Nigerian government for creating awareness on the benefits of environmental health
According to her; “We all live under one sky and everything that happens around the planet impacts greatly on us equally and impacts our health.
Tarnawska expressed optimism that the participants would reap the benefits of the Forum, adding that she was proud to be associated with the health forum.
Also speaking in turn, a representative from Sudan Embassy, Mr. Mohammed expressed the hope that the Forum would bring the much needed change on how to address environmental health issues.
On his part, the representative of the WHO, Dr. Edwin-Isotu Edeh said that 30 percent of diseases are related to the risk factors from the environment.
In the words of Edeh; “We cannot talk about sustainability in the era of climate change without looking at the two important components in the environment such as “social inclusion and the economy.
“For every system to thrive, the economic value chain component is very key to this programme, which will open access to business models that can create jobs and reduce unemployment”.
In his own address, the Registrar of EHCN, Dr. Yakubu Mohammed Baba said that the objective of the forum was to create the enabling environment for the private sector to participate and invest in environmental health, adding that environmental health is a serious business and investment in the sector is huge.
