The Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) Hydro Electric Plc, Jebba, at the weekend distributed 6000 doses of Typhoid Fever vaccines to the host community as part of its corporate social responsibility.

Presenting the vaccines worth N13million to the management of Jebba Maternity Health Centre for onward distribution to Jebba community and its environs in Kwara and Niger States, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the company, Engr. Lamu Audu, said the vaccines would protect members of the community from contracting typhoid and other related diseases.

 “We have done a few things in the past in terms of electricity supply, water supply, educational projects and this is a fall out to the fact that recently we experienced some flooding. The effect of this flooding is that the communities are usually affected by one type of ailment or another. You know mostly in the rural areas, they use pit latrines and wells, so, when these things are flooded, it brings about some other diseases and typhoid fever is one of the common diseases we noticed.

We felt that after immunizing our staff, we should reach out to the community as well”, he said.

He urged members of the community to maintain personal hygiene and always clean their environments to guide against diseases.

“First of all, it is not just the vaccine, they need to take care of themselves- the water they drink, the food they eat; they need to take care of their environments too. The vaccine will now be complementary because once you have been vaccinated, you would be protected from typhoid fever for the next three years which is very vital. Anybody that has benefitted from these vaccines would be healthier and stronger and eventually would be more useful to the community and to the economy of the nation generally”, he said.

Also speaking, Dr. Abdul Tong Shuaib, said recent flooding exposed Nigeria’s rural communities to the danger of Typhoid fever, which he said does not have a complete cure.

 “The vaccine has no side effect, it is the same for all ages and it does not give us headache. So, prevention is better than cure. Typhoid Fever is a silent killer, it kills more than auto accidents, malaria and HIV/AIDS,” he said.