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From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Tuesday disclosed that no fewer than 91 lives were lost to cholera between January and July.
The Centre said that in July alone, 10 people died of the disease, out of 575 suspected cases that were reported across 16 states in Nigeria, namely, Abia (1), Bauchi (62), Bayelsa (4), Benue (1), Borno (160), Ekiti (1), Gombe (3), Jigawa (4), Kaduna (14), Kano (171), Katsina (115), Kebbi (1), Plateau (11), Sokoto (12), Yobe (4) and Zamfara (11).
An epidemiology report for week 27-30, 2022, released by NCDC on Tuesday, indicated that there was an 18 per cent increase in the number of new suspected cases in July (575 cases) when compared with 473 cases that were reported in June epidemiology week 22 – 26.
The report further disclosed that as of 31st July 2022, a total of 3, 610 suspected cases including 91 deaths were reported from 31 states in 2022, and out of the suspected cases, children under the age group of five years were most affected.
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It added: “Of all the suspected cases, 49 per cent are male and 51 per cent are female. Nine states, namely, Taraba (676 cases), Cross River (650), Katsina (378 cases), Borno (340 cases), kano (318 cases), Ondo (283 cases), Zamfara (178 cases), Bayelsa (144 cases), Bauchi (100 cases) and Adamawa (56 cases) accounted for 87 per cent of all cumulative cases, while seven LGAs across two states, namely, Cross River (2), Borno (1), kano (1) and Taraba (3) reported more than 100 cases each this year.”
NCDC Director General Dr Ifedayo Adetifa, who signed the report, highlighted challenges of responding to the disease to include difficulty in accessing some communities due to security concerns, open defecation in affected communities, lack of potable drinking water in some rural areas and urban slums, poor hygiene practice in most cholera affected communities, inadequate health facility infrastructure and cholera commodities for management of patients (Ringer’s lactate and ORS), inadequately trained personnel in states for case management, poor and inconsistent reporting from states, amongst others.
He confirmed that the Centre has taken steps in response to the development, and the steps include continued training on cholera surveillance, hotspot mapping and the development of state-level preparedness and response plans.
He promised that they would strengthen communication with states and also offer the necessary support for data reporting and response, in addition to continued advocacy to state governments to increase funding in WASH infrastructure, among several other measures.
