CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
In this era of technological advancement, there is a possibility for a fast association of knowledge in all fields of human endeavours. The health care delivery system of Ikpoba OkhaLocal Government is being geared towards aligning with the national goal on “health for all”. One way of achieving this goal is through the education of primary school pupils on better health care. This is certainly one of the domains of physical and health education. Health education is designed for primary school level to educate the pupils about common diseases in our immediate environment and their prevention.
Also health education can also bridge the gap, reduce some of our environmental hazards for the welfare of every citizen. It is well known that children are exposed to various hazards of communicable diseases, it is necessary to guide the children from these diseases. Therefore, the teacher should be very much concerned with the health welfare and survival of his pupils. Communicable diseases in the past have been “endemic” and now it has become “sporadic” because of the awareness of this study. As the name implies communicable diseases is derived from the combination of two words, communicable and disease. Communicable is an illness that can be in exchanged, share, transmit or imparted.
Disease is an unfavourable condition of an organism caused by micro-organisms as a result of illness, disorder of the body or mind. Communicable diseases are sometimes referred to as infectious diseases. They are the diseases which are communicated from one person to another or from animals to man through personal contacts like air, water, dust or the use of personal belonging or families. The communicable diseases that are common in pupils in primary schools include; chicken pox, measles, cholera, whooping cough, typhoid, tuberculosis, craw-craw, poliomyelitis (infant paralysis). The research is intended to carryout the overview of communicable diseases among primary school pupils. It is also intended to give useful advice and suggestions to teachers in primary school in particular on how to prevent the spread of these communicable diseases among the pupils in primary school in Ikpoba OkhaLocal Government Area.