REPORT OF COMMUNITY

IMMERSION

2007/2008 SESSION

(RURAL & URBAN)

BY: OKWEREKWU PETER.N

020715034

REPORT OF RURAL COMMUNITY IMMERSION IN LAKOWE

VILLAGE, IBEJU-LEKKI LGA

LAGOS STATE, NIGERIA.

INTRODUCTION

The group started the rural immersion at Lakowe Village, Ibeju-Lekki LGA, Lagos State on the

22nd day of June, 2008. The entry points into the community were the Baale. The village

consisted of approximately.

Surrounding communities were Oribanwa, Adeba, Eputu, Lagasa Villages. The community had

only one secondary school (Iwerekun High School) and a few small primary schools, mostly

private. The road network in the Lakowe area is not good at all, drainage is a very big problem

as most streets are not tarred and become almost impassable in the rainy season. On our way

back to we were delayed for almost two hours because our bus got stuck in a ditch that was

flooded and quite sandy on the road.

The facilitator was Mrs Adeyemi with Dr Inem as Supervisor.

The aim of this visit was to identify the health needs and health related problems of these

areas. We were also able to do a health survey of the community and schools. A focus group

discussion was also done to ensure that the community felt health needs were also identified.

DAY 1 (Sunday 22th June 2008)

The first day of the programme started with arriving at the local government after a 4 hour

drive from the Lagos University Teaching Hospital. We were received warmly by our host, The

Baale of the Village. After the introductions were made and accommodation was arranged, we

commenced with the mobilization of the community residents and campaign about our

presence. Word of our arrival was spread by the Village Town Crier so as create awareness of

the programmes that were to follow. We went further to introduce ourselves to the CDA

Chairman of the Community. Who briefed us on the situation of things in the community, what

had been put in place and what they still had to do. They also enumerated how they felt our

presence could benefit them in combating particular difficulties they faced. They also made it

very clear that they would try their best possible to make sure that we were very comfortable

and relaxed even as we offer them humanitarian services. We were then shown the health post

of the community (Also known as BASE), however this post was not purpose built as it also

serves as local Drinking spot. Also a map of the region was drawn.

DAY 2 (Monday 23rd June 2008)

We then distributed ourselves in groups of two to the different streets in the local government

to fill the morbidity survey questionnaires. We selected every alternate house on a street for

interview and questionnaire administration. We followed the format of introducing ourselves,

explaining our mission, and its relevance to their community, interviewed and examined a

member of each household.

At the same time, we tried to mobilize people to come to our health post for free dental check-

up. After this, we reconvened at the health post and offered health and oral health services to

those who came in. Not much treatment could have been done at the health post but most

were educated on their oral hygiene while a few others who required treatment were referred

to General Hospital.

DAY 3 (Tuesday 24th June 2008)

We all convened at the health post (BASE) where we setup for immunization that day. Posters

displaying breastfeeding practices, immunization schedules, nutritional statuses to mention a

few, were pasted on the trees and walls to provide some sort of the much needed publicity we

needed to further remind the villagers of where we were located to offer them health services.

The Villagers started trooping in much later in the day (12pm) due to the rain that slightly

disrupted our programme. The Health Talk was given by Paul Arikawe who also functioned as

interpreter for the group, the talk centred on the importance of regular health check, their

current lifestyle, dietary habits as well as the toothbrushing techniques as well as the rationale

behind them. After the health talk was given, Immunizations began, In addition to this Blood

pressure checks were also done on the villagers (However emphasis was placed on the Elderly)

Later that evening, we assemble again at the Health Post for the Focussed Group Discussion.

Those in attendance were the Baale; CDA Chairman; Chief Imam of the Community; as well as

other opinion leaders in the community. Key issues raised by the community members, In

addition to this we observed high prevalence of Diabetic patients as well as Hypertensive

patients. The dental problems seen were a general state of poor oral hygiene which resulted in

Increased Periodontitis & Caries Attack. Also discussed were Poor Drainage, Bad roads,

Insufficient Electricity & Water Supply

DAY 4 (Wednesday 25th June 2008)

This started with our visiting the government secondary school in the local government,

Iwerekun High School. Here we met the School Principal who then delegated his Teachers to

assist in mobilising the student body, however he was initially hesitant to allow an

immunization campaign of this magnitude to go on in his school as he was worried about the

reactions of the Parents of the students due to their traditional beliefs.

The school was a mix of Junior and Senior Secondary School. The oral health talk started with

highlighting the importance of having a clean and healthy teeth/mouth. The students were also

educated on how to maintain a good oral hygiene. They were also advised to reduce their

intake of refined sugars in form of sweets, biscuits and carbonated drinks, but instead to eat

more of fruits which they had readily available and in abundance. Some students were called

out to re-cap and demonstrate what they had learnt. The school health questionnaires were

duly filled out and the students examined.

This day was also tagged our immunization day which immediately commenced after the health

talk. Several vaccines which included Hepatitis B, Measles, Tetanus, Polio, Yellow Fever, BCG

were administered to all students who were interested in the exercise.

Nutritional statuses of children under five were also ascertained and assessed and those who

were short of standard were advised on appropriate feeding practices that would make their

child grow healthy and strong.

Later In the day we visited the Phase 2 of the Lakowe Village which was situated on the other

side of the expressway to give a health talk as well as carry out immunizations on the people in

that area. We assembled at the compound of a Village elder called Bros Jay, who was a friend of

the Baale.

On completion of the immunization programme we retired back to the Baale’s House.

RECOMMENDATIONS

The following recommendations are being made with respect to the findings of our community

diagnosis:

Provision of oral health care service center accessible to members of this community

and its environment.

Providing the dental students with posters, models and charts that will aid oral health

education

Providing Diabetic test kits (Glucometers) to the Drug bag given to the students so as to

enable easy assesment of the blood sugar of the population to be studied.

Providing incentives for those who willing offer themselves for the morbidity survey

REPORT OF URBAN COMMUNITY IMMERSION IN IKOSI-ISHERI LOCAL GOVERNMENT,

LAGOS STATE, NIGERIA.

BRIEF HISTORY OF IKOSI ISHERI LOCAL GOVERNMENT

BACKGROUND

Ikosi Isheri Local Government Area (LGA) is one of the 57 local government areas in Lagos State.

A state which although has ceased to be the capital of Nigeria still maintains its importance as

the country’s commercial nerve center.

Ikosi Isheri is made up of other communities such as magodo, isheri, ikosi and ketu to mention a

few. We were based majorly in the magodo area of ikosi-isheri LGA.

It is made up of residential estates and large commercial areas with a prominent market which

brings a clear distinction between the day life/activities and night life/activities in the area. . As

a local government, it houses people from various backgrounds, races and ethnic cleavages and

comprises of various streets which include Salako street, Church street, Rasak Bishi street,

Folarin street etc.

EDUCATION

The LG gives priority attention to education and regard it as the greatest legacy it can bequeath

to the young ones; hence a large sum of the LG budget is allocated to this sector. Apart from

payment of teacher’s salaries and allowances, the LG agencies and public spirited individual to

contribute to the development of education in the area. To achieve an all round education

growth the LG is making gave bursary awards to students in higher institutions. Equally free

exercise books and education support materials are distributed from time to time.

TRANSPORTATION

The road network in the Magodo area is not that good as most streets are not tarred and

become almost impassable in the rainy season. The LG has been maintaining some of the roads

to compliment the efforts of the Lagos State ministry of works. Drainages are also not sufficient

enough to help in maintaining the longevity of the inner roads.

DAILY ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT DURING THE URBAN COMMUNITY IMMERSION

DAY 1; Monday 16th June 2008:

We arrived at Magodo later than expected because of hold up and the rain, our arrival site

was the community development centre on street, we met with our facilitator and our

supervisor, Dr Mrs Ebuehi

We could not start immediately because it was still raining; we were then paired up and

assigned to various streets with a facilitator. I was paired with a medical student (Mrs Ojo) and

was assigned to Adebiyi street, my facilitator was Dr Musa. We did our community mobilization

and filled our household questionnaires simultaneously because we were behind schedule,

while doing this we also invited people for the immunization exercise to hold the next day.

Members of the community were quite receptive and welcoming as they had been expecting

us.

DAY 2;Tuesday 17th June 2008:

We started quite early on this day. We were divided into 3 groups, a group to give

immunization, a group to consult and a group to go for school health, dental students were well

represented in each group and at a specified time the groups rotated so that at the end of the

day everyone had done school health, given immunizations and also consulted.

We carried out nutritional assessment on all the babies that were brought for immunization

and gave health talks on balanced diet, good hygiene and good dental hygiene. Nutritional

assesment of under five children was done and the babies were also weighed.

While going for the school health those needed for the focus group discussion to hold the next

day were invited accordingly. At the school, children were dewormed after paying for the

tablet, we had informed them the day before to bring a specified sum of money if they were

interested in being dewormed, in total we dewormed about 75% of the population of pupils in

the school we visited. To ensure adequate participation by everyone roles were allocated to

various people at every point in time by the supervisor.

DAY 3; Wednesday 18th June 2008:

We went about reminding our guests about the focus group discussion to hold today, the

discussion was well attended by our guests, we had the Baale’s in attendance, head of the

Okada riders, head of the market women, a nurse from the PHC centre, the youth leader, an

acclaimed mother of the community, a pastor and the chief Imam of the community, there

were also regular members of the community we were present, in total we entertained about

20 guests.

The health topics we chose were poor utilization of the immunization service, poor oral hygiene

and poor drainage systems. The members of the community basically agreed with us and also

made additional complaints of poor electricity supply and the fact that we would just come

listen to them and probably not do something about it. We were implored to please follow this

through and not just raise false hopes.

DAY 4; Thursday 19th June 2008:

With our collated reports and with findings we met with the chairman of the community

development association and discussed the action plan we had made to combat the health

problems we had elicited. Implications involved with actualizing these action plans were also

discussed. Some changes were made to the action plan we made by the chairman to further

suit their own schedule in order to make the implementations easier for them.

We were told that their greatest need right now was for a health facility that would cater for

their entire medical and dental needs be built with adequate staff strength to provide effective

and efficient health care services. In support of this need and in order to facilitate its quick

implementation the community told us of a land they had set aside and allocated to be used as

the site of this health facility.

We thanked the community through the chairman for their hospitality and participation, we

promised that we were going to follow through with our findings to the local government and

get back to the community.

All these activities that were carried out during the urban community immersion and the dates

they were carried out have been summarized below:

Activity Dates

Household interviews 16th June 2008

Community mobilization 16th June 2008

Nutritional assessment (under fives) 17th June 2008

Immunization sessions 17th June 2008

School health interviews and nutritional

assessment

17th June 2008

Health education 17th June 2008

Focus group discussion 18th June 2008

Treatment of common ailments 16th-18th June 2008

CONCLUSION

The community immersion exercise was in the end very educative and enjoyable.

We learned to view rural life with a more appreciative eye and the focus group

discussions helped us to come up with a community diagnosis that truly reflected

the feelings of people in the community. With effective community mobilization

and advocacy most of the preventive strategies would be effective in dealing with

health problems like poor oral hygiene.