Uche Alexis|8 October 2017
It was a tripartite celebration today as the Cross River State Government joined the rest of the world to celebrate the World Sight Day, the Global Hand Washing Week and the World Lion's Day Centenary Celebration in Calabar NegroidHaven has learnt.
The day began with a 5km awareness walk with the Calabar Lion's Club family within the Calabar metropolis and terminated at the General Hospital Calabar where there was a free medical outreach for Children. The theme of this year's celebration —Make Vision Count, looked at bringing optical care to children.
"The World Sight Day is the most important advocacy event on the eye health calendar which is why the Cross River State Government is consistently bridging the gap of providing quality eye care services to the people.
Today we are proud to say that we have conducted over thirty-six thousand free optical surgeries and corrections for both adults and children, and that shows how much this day's celebration means to the State Government. We are constantly on the lookout for ways of ensuring a healthy Cross River State for all", Dr Inyang Asibong, Commissioner for Health.
The team proceeded to the office of the wife of the Cross River State Governor, Dr Mrs Linda Ayade, who hosted stakeholders as she officially declared the global hand washing week in the State open putting pen to paper on the Declaration of Commitment.
In her remarks Her Excellency said "Together we can make a huge difference in the State and I'm looking forward to signing the document. My office and the Mediatrix Development Foundation will be looking forward to a closer working relationship with you to ensure a healthy Cross River State."
Dr Inyang Asibong noted that with regular hand washing and proper hygiene the Monkeypox virus currently plaguing some regions of the country can be defeated. She said the State health team will be available to create hand washing awareness as she hinted that the use of ash in place of soap can also wash the hands clean.
DG CRSPHCDA, Dr Beta Edu, hinted that staff of the Primary Health Centres will be made available throughout the week to ensure a wider reach. The Country Director of United Purpose; the Global Partners for World Hand Washing Day, Mr Tom Connel, said Hand Washing is the vaccine to preventable diseases while the United Purpose Hand Washing Ambassador in the State, Mr Sunny Neji, appealed to Her Excellency to use her office to create more awareness and attract the State Government's support through the provision of counterpart funding in this regard.
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