The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has declared Zamfara, Cross River, Adamawa, and Ogun as states with the highest cholera cases in the country.
This was made known by the NCDC’s Incident Manager of the Cholera Technical Working Group, Dr Sebastian Yennan, at the monthly meeting of the Water Sanitation and Hygiene in Emergency Working Group on Tuesday in Abuja.
He explained that the cases were updates from the centre’s Epidemiology Week 39, and efforts were ongoing to provide response commodities to affected states across the country.
Yennan pointed out that NCDC’s intervention through cholera case management was conducted in collaboration with WHO by distributing infection prevention and control kits, WASH kits, and chlorine powder, among others.
The incident manager said that this intervention focused on the four states, adding that the distributed kits could also be used in emergency situations like Lassa fever and diphtheria outbreaks.
“The NCDC has partnered with a third-party logistics company in the distribution of commodities and also to bring samples. Our cholera response is active in all 36 states and the FCT.
“In Zamfara, for instance, the governor visited the cholera treatment centre in Anka local government, which was built by Doctors Without Borders/MSF. They have received response commodities”.
He stressed that states needed to do more to prioritize cholera prevention by ensuring that funds were budgeted early and accessible.
Yennan further said that the centre was in charge of the administration of the Basic Health Care Provision Fund.
The fund, according to him, was designed to strengthen the national health system, urging states to preposition their needs to access it before, during, and after disease outbreaks.
He also urged all stakeholders to strengthen partnerships to promote advocacy for the prevention of health emergencies in the country.
A representative from the National Emergency Management Agency, Mr Dapo Akingbade, noted that due to the release of excess water from the Lagdo dam in Cameroon, 13 states have experienced flooding.
He said 171,545 people were displaced in the affected states, with property and farmlands destroyed and no fewer than 45 deaths.
Akingbade, while providing an update as of October 7, Akingbsde pointed out that the agency had started an assessment of the flood situation in Adamawa with the activation of the emergency operation centre for the coordination of interventions.
“The flooding in Adamawa has impacted a lot of people and communities. At the EOC meeting, we recommended that all states activate their flood response plans.
“Also, we are awaiting a detailed needs assessment report from Adamawa to know the appropriate areas for response by APC.”
The NEMA official identified the need for the WASH sector to be well-prepared, adding that collective responsibility was needed to reduce the impact of emergency situations in the country.
