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From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Country Office of the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) has raised the alarm of pending epidemic outbreak in Nigeria as a result of the devastating flood that had submerged several states in Nigeria.
It stated that the ravaging floods have added another layer of complexity to an already precarious humanitarian situation in Nigeria, stressing that immediate priority is needed for children’e health, water, sanitation, and hygiene; as well as shelter and food
The floods, according to UNICEF, has affected 34 out of the 36 states in the country with 1.3 million people displaced.
It added that over 600 people have lost their lives and over 200,000 houses either partially or fully damaged, and as a result, cases of diarrhoea and water-borne diseases, respiratory infection, and skin diseases have already been on the rise.
UNICEF in a statement on Friday indicated that, already, north-eastern states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe alone have recorded a total of 7,485 cases of cholera and 319 associated deaths as at 12th October, 2022, and as rains are expected to continue for several weeks, humanitarian needs are expected to rise.
UNICEF Representative in Nigeria, Cristian Munduate, in the statement said that children and adolescents in flood-affected areas are in an extremely vulnerable situation, thus soliciting urgent assistance in form of food and non-food items, from all levels of government including corporate organizations.
“Additional funding and resources are required to respond to the growing needs and to sustain ongoing humanitarian interventions, with a focus on the most vulnerable, including children with disabilities,” she added.
She stated that UNICEF has supported government response in three affected states, namely, Jigawa, Niger, and Kaduna, including through the provision of cash assistance, distribution of cholera kits, government-led mobile health teams, temporary learning centres and learning kits and cholera kits.
“However, with additional support, UNICEF can scale up response in other states to provide lifesaving medical equipments and other essential medicines, chlorination of water and sanitation supplies, and also support the prevention of and response to sexual and gender-based violence,” she said.
She, however, made reference to UNICEF’s Children’s Climate Risk Index (CCRI), which indicated that Nigeria is at ‘extremely high risk’ of the impacts of climate change, ranking second out of 163 countries.
“It means that children in ‘extremely high risk’ countries face a deadly combination of exposure to multiple climate and environmental shocks combined with high levels of underlying child vulnerability, due to inadequate essential services, such as water and sanitation, healthcare and education,” she explained.
