Okello James
Rwandan peacekeepers serving with the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Torit have joined the administration and staff of Torit state hospital to clean the hospital and its surrounding areas to destroy Mosquitos breeding. Simon Lojana Musa, the deputy director of public health at the hospital was appreciative of the peacekeepers support to the community.
“I have appreciated today that UN Peacekeepers have extend a helping hand to help us with cleanliness we are running shortage of laborers that it is difficult for us to clean the hospital on timely based”
Peacekeepers have often been assisting the hospital by maintaining the environment among others in solidity with the community.
Simon recounts the contributions of United Nations military personnel in upholding its mandate to protect civilians.“This is not the first, the UN police and the military came to cleaned so if we continues this spirit like this we shall keep our environment clean in order to avoid the breeding of the mosquitos and others like communicable diseases”
Anna Bianka Alex is one of the workers in the hospital who struggle with other to maintain the environment daily, Anna felt relief with the assistance from the peacekeepers.“We are now few doing cleanliness at the hospital premises, most of the workers left the job in search of other jobs and some migrated away to the refugee’s camps during the war, the work is overshadowing us”
The campaign aimed at eliminating mosquito breeding grounds to curb the spate of malarial infections which account for 50 percent of out-patient visits and admission during the rainy reason.
The focal point of the Rwandan batallion, Lieutenant Eddy Ntambara, said the exercise forms part of the civic-military engagement activities of the peacekeepers to foster cordial relationship with the local population.
“The import of this exercise in Torit hospital is that you see most of the people a very big number is suffering from malaria and malaria always is favored by the bushes are places which are so dirty the important of doing this is to safe from being attack by the mosquitos”
Malaria is a life-threatening disease caused by parasites that are transmitted to people through the bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes. Its first symptoms are fever, headache, and chills. If not treated within 24 hours, malaria can progress to severe illness, often leading to death.
The exercise was marked with friendly volleyball game between the Rwandan-Battalion team and Torit community team at freedom squire in Torit town.
