Lara Adejoro The recent outbreak of cholera across the country has been blamed on poor sanitation, personal and environmental hygiene, and lack of access to water. by the Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr Jide Idris. Speaking on a programme on Channels Television on Saturday, he noted that the agency is conducting a risk assessment, and alerted all the states on the outbreak.
Cholera is a food and water-borne disease, caused by the ingestion of the organism Vibrio cholerae in contaminated water and food. NCDC had warned the public of the increasing trend of cholera cases across the country as the rainy season intensifies. The centre said from January 1st to June 11th, 2024, a total of 1,141 suspected and 65 confirmed cases of cholera with 30 deaths have been reported from 96 LGAs in 30 states.
It noted that the 10 states that contributed 90 per cent to the burden of cholera include Bayelsa, Zamfara, Abia, Cross River, Bauchi, Delta, Katsina, Imo, Nasarawa, and Lagos states. In Nigeria, cholera is an endemic and seasonal disease, occurring annually mostly during the rainy season and more often in areas with Poor sanitation. There were 473,000 cholera cases reported to WHO in 2022 – double the number from 2021.
A further increase of cases by 700,000 was estimated for 2023. As of April, the World Health Organisation said a cumulative total of 145,900 cholera cases and 1,766 deaths were reported from 24 countries across five WHO regio.
