By Mukhtar Ajelogbon
Cholera is a preventable and treatable epidemic-prone disease that is usually transmitted by eating or drinking contaminated food or water.
The numbers of cholera cases tends to increase with the onset of the rainy season, while the risk of death from cholera is higher, when treatment is delayed. It is very important to visit a health facility if one have symptoms such as watery diarrhea and vomiting.
Epidemiological report by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), showed that as at month of July, 2021, a total of 31,425 suspected cholera cases, including 653 deaths have been reported from 22 states in Nigeria including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) since January.
The states include; Benue, Delta, Zamfara, Gombe, Bayelsa, Kogi, Sokoto, Bauchi, Kano, Kaduna, Plateau, Kebbi, Cross River, Nasarawa, Niger, Jigawa, Yobe, Kwara, Adamawa, Enugu, Katsina, Borno and FCT.
The report further revealed the reporting cases since the beginning of the year 2021, where 27 percent are ages 5 to 14 of all suspected cases, 51 percent are males and 49 percent are females, compared to less than 2,000 cases reported over a similar period in the year 2020.
Concerning steps taken by the government so far to curb the spread of the disease and manage cases identified, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) stated that it has begun response activities in states, with response commodities, claiming that there is ongoing surveillance in all states through the routine integrated disease surveillance (IDRS), while advocating hygiene promotion, provision of safe water, water chlorination, household disinfection, sensitisation on dangers of open defecation in partner with community health volunteers in the affected states, it has also supported testing of samples received from Benue, Niger, Plateau, Bauchi, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Kwara, Katsina, Enugu, Bayelsa, Adamawa, and the FCT at its National Reference Laboratory (NRL) in Abuja.
The Director-General of the NCDC, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, also reported that the agency has activated an Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) that was co-led with the Federal Ministries of Environment and Water Resources, given the link between cholera, water, sanitation and hygiene.
With the above analysis on the cholera outbreak across Nigeria, this is to charge government at all levels to equip all primary health care centres (the closest to the people) with enough facilities, while the resources that have been developed as part of Nigeria’s COVID-19 response can also used to strengthen the response to the cholera outbreak, including digitalisation of the national surveillance system, establishment of laboratories and treatment centres, training of health workers among others.
To the health professionals, healthcare workers should have a high index of suspicion for cholera, and maintain universal care precautions at all times.
While urging members of the public to be aware of the risk of the disease, the need to adhere to the following precautionary measures to ensure safety: Boil and store water in a clean and safe container before drinking; Prepare, cook and store food safely; Wash hands frequently with soap under clean running water to prevent infectious diseases including cholera. This is especially important after defecation as well as before handling food or eating.
Others preventive measures are: Avoiding open defecation and indiscriminate refuse dumping which contribute to the spread of cholera; Visit a health facility immediately if you have symptoms such as watery diarrhoea.
