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 17th June 2008

nutritional assessment

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.