The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has said that 2,102 suspected cases of cholera and 63 deaths have been recorded across 33 States and 122 LGAs in the country.
Director-general of NCDC, Dr. Jide Idris, who disclosed this at a media conference on cholera outbreak response update on Tuesday in Abuja, said Bayelsa, Abia, Zamfara, Bauchi, Katsina, Cross River, Ebonyi, Rivers and Delta States were among the top 10 States that contribute about 90 per cent of the cases.
The DG identified inadequate toilet facilities, poor sanitation and inadequate safe water as factors militating against cholera eradication in the country.
He said: “Only 123 (16%) of 774 LGAs in Nigeria are open defecation free. With Jigawa as the only open defecation free state in Nigeria. More than 48 million Nigerians practice open defecation.
“Inadequate toilet facilities and existing ones even in many government facilities not well maintained. Inadequate Safe water and poor sanitation: 11 percent of schools, six percent of health facilities, 4 percent of motor parks and markets, have access to basic water, sanitation and hygiene services.”
Dr. Idris also listed poor waste management practices, poor food, environmental and personal hygiene practices, capacity gap among health care workers at the state and LGA levels as part of the challenges.
However, he said that the National Cholera Multisectoral Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) activated recently was providing strategic coordination to fight the scourge.
He said this was being done through the relevant thematic areas of response that cover coordination, surveillance, case management, infection prevention and control, risk communication and community engagement.
Others were water sanitation and hygiene, vaccination, logistics, and research with a costed incidence action plan for the response developed and being implemented.
Dr. Idris added these will help facilitate rapid communication, data analysis, and decision-making.