Mr. Peter Onuchukwu was a subsistent farmer in Umuowa Ibu village in Okigwe Local Government Area of Imo state. He was the bread winner of his family as he sold little remainder of his farm produce in the local market and used the money to purchase what he couldn’t provide for his family. Mr. Peter, a sexagenarian, farmed on the farmland near fast flowing river called Ibii River which the people of the community believe to be more fertile than upland. As a farmer in a community endemic to river blindness, he was greatly exposed to black ants’ bites than others in the community. Like many in his community then, he didn’t know anything about river blindness or what causes it, all they knew was some people get blind, swollen legs, genitals and other parts of their bodies in their locality than in other communities around them. In 2001, Mr. Peter started manifesting different symptoms of Onchocerciasis but due to lack of awareness and access to proper medical checkup, he was treated of malaria leaving the disease to develop fully in his body. He went totally blind in 2006 and that brought untold and sudden hardship to his immediate family which prompted his first son’s dropping out of school to fend for the family. Another tragedy struck when his bread winner son was killed in the north by one of the numerous Boko Haram attacks which left his wife to double as the bread winner and nursing wife.
The awareness campaign embarked on by Sir Emeka Offor Foundation (SEOF) on River blindness is yielding results as more people in the endemic states are becoming aware of the disease and are embracing preventive measures being provided which will lead to total elimination of this neglected but pernicious disease. Making a difference is one of the ways of investing one’s life as opposed to spending it. Sir Emeka offor has really invested and still invests his life in many different spheres of the society. Taking up the responsibility of eliminating Onchocerciasis from Nigeria in addition to his commitment to ending polio would appear as a burden, but the great philanthropist, Sir Emeka Offor sees it as life being lived in the right form of it.
SAO PAULO, Brazil, Jun 04, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE via COMTEX) --
With an important milestone in the effort to END POLIO NOW throughout Nigeria just weeks away, the Sir Emeka Offor Foundation today urged political, public health and community leaders to redouble their commitment to the effort to eradicate polio once and for all. The comments came as representatives of the Sir Emeka Offor Foundation ready to participate in the 2015 Rotary International Convention June 6th – 9th.
No new cases of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) have been reported since July 24, 2014, which means Nigeria could be just weeks away from being removed from the list of polio endemic countries.
"The collective achievements to date give us hope that we can finally eradicate polio not only from Nigeria and Africa, but from planet Earth," said Sir Emeka Offor, who serves as Rotary's PolioPlus ambassador in Nigeria and is the founder of the Sir Emeka Offor Foundation, a non-governmental, philanthropic organization focused on youth employment, families, education, healthcare and infrastructure development. "There will be time to celebrate, but that time is not now. This is a very vulnerable time and Nigeria is susceptible to another outbreak if we allow complacency. Instead, we strongly urge Nigeria's leaders across all political parties and religions to join public health experts in advancing the Global Polio Eradication Initiative over the finish line."
The Sir Emeka Offor Foundation donated $2 million, which was matched with a grant of an additional $4 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, to support the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. The initiative was launched by Rotary International, the World Health Organization, UNICEF and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Together they have assembled a powerful infrastructure of disease prevention and surveillance, multilateral networks equipped to respond to outbreaks and well-trained healthcare professionals.
Nigeria will need to go another two years without a case of polio before it can be formally certified as polio-free by the World Health Organization. This period will require continued program innovations and strategies to get polio vaccine to underserved and difficult to reach communities – especially areas in the Northeast where upwards of 60 percent of settlements have been inaccessible to vaccinators.
"We applaud the commitment and creativity of the healthcare professionals who take great risks to bring the benefits of vaccines to our children," said Sir Emeka. "Despite security challenges, they managed to deliver millions of doses of oral polio vaccine in Borno and Yobe states during the past year – a major step in the goal of reaching every child with the vaccine."
About the Sir Emeka Offor Foundation
The Sir Emeka Offor Foundation is a philanthropic organization based in Oraifite, Anambra State, Nigeria. The Foundation seeks to alleviate the sufferings of the less privileged through philanthropy, and focuses primarily on giving support and hope to those in need irrespective of tribe, creed, religion and nation. The Foundation has affected the lives of many Nigerians through its domestic programs and projects, which include Youth Empowerment, Widows Cooperative, Education, and Health Services and Infrastructural Development. The Scholarship Program honoring Sir Emeka Offor was designed to foster and encourage outstanding students who come from impoverished homes and have no other recourse to Financial Aid. For more information, visit http://sireofforfoundation.org or like us at: https://www.facebook.com/siremekaofforfoundation.
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Glaucoma is an eye disease that damages the optic nerve and impairs vision which in many occasions progress to total blindness. Glaucoma affects people of all ages, and is the second major cause of blindness globally after cataract and can neither be prevented nor cured medically. Medical researchers are yet to discover the aetiology of glaucoma which holds the key to its curability and possible prevention. However, medical advice encourages people to go for test as early detection may not prevent it but will certainly help in its management pending the discovery of total cure. It is an eye disease often described as "slow finisher" due to its tardily but steadily degenerative nature to the optic nerve of the eye.
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