Cholera: WHO, UNICEF hold emergency meeting, experts warn corpers

As Nigeria battles cholera outbreak in 30 states, the World Health Organisation, the United Nations Children’s Fund, and the International Organisation for Migration held an emergency meeting on Tuesday in Lagos State.

The WHO Country Representative, Dr Walter Mulombo, disclosed this on his X handle.

He said, “Happening Now: @WHONigeria @UNICEF_Nigeria @IOM_Nigeria hold an emergency meeting on the emerging cholera outbreak in Lagos State. The three agencies are discussing joint @UN_Nigeria support @NCDCgov @ProfAkinAbayomi.”

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, in its latest report, said from January 1 to June 11, 2024, over 1,141 suspected and over 65 confirmed cases of cholera, resulting in over 30 deaths, had been reported from 96 LGAs in 30 states.

As the 37 permanent camps of the National Youth Service Corps across the country open to thousands of prospective corps members, for their three-week-long orientation exercise on June 26, 2024, medical experts say poor sanitary conditions, lack of clean water, and cleaning supplies can predispose corps members to a cholera outbreak.

According to them, such camps sometimes suffer from sanitation and hygiene issues, consequently, illnesses and diseases can easily spread.

A professor of Public Health at the University of Ilorin and Consultant Public Health physician at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Kwara State, Kayode Osagbemi, urged the NYSC authorities to ensure the camps are clean and suitable for stay before prospective corps members resume.

He said this is the best time to provide a clean water supply and environmental sanitation to prevent the outbreak of cholera or other diseases.

Osagbemi stated, “We don’t need to wait until they start having the infection before we start treating because prevention is easier, better, and cheaper than treatment. We would not recommend that people should not go to camps because of cholera, the important thing is to observe the preventive measures.

“There are some camps that have pipe-borne water and boreholes with safe and clean water, but there are some that water tankers supply them water, so such water should be treated before being dispatched to the camps.

“The corps members should also obey the rules of personal hygiene, environmental sanitation, and regular washing of hands. If they can abide by that, there’s no risk or there’s no reason to stop them from going to the camps.

“Just like as the schools are resuming after the break, the same principles apply to them, even the universities. Anywhere you have a huge gathering of people, you need to observe strict hygiene.”

The public health expert harped on the need for concerted efforts by the Federal Government, state governments, relevant agencies, and partners to ensure safe camping for every corps member.

A public health policy and management specialist, Dr Laz Eze, said cholera is a deadly but preventable bacterial infectious disease.

Eze, who is also the Chief Executive Officer of TalkHealth9ja, stated, “Poor environmental hygiene, unsafe drinking water, unclean toilets, open defecation, and poor hand hygiene are risk factors for contracting and spreading cholera.

“To prevent cholera, there has to be proper education for the inhabitants of the NYSC camps on water hygiene, environmental sanitation, and hand hygiene. Safe drinking water, clean toilets, and proper waste disposal should be made available.

“Foods should be cooked properly, plates washed with safe clean water, toilets cleaned up regularly and corps members should wash their hands regularly with soap and running water.”

The Team Leader/Chief Executive at Q-Impact Medicare, Dr Lekan Adelakun, said officials of the NYSC must ensure corps members are safe in the camps.

“They must ensure that they are healthy, they live healthy, the environment is healthy, their kitchens are healthy, and the foods are well cooked. Environmental cleanliness has to be done, especially food hygiene. They have to educate the corps members on preventive measures and ensure that anybody with gastrointestinal symptoms should be taken to the hospital immediately,” Adelakun advised.

Efforts to reach the Director of Press and Public Relations of the NYSC, Eddy Megwa, to discuss preventive measures to mitigate the outbreak and spread of cholera at the camps proved abortive, despite several phone calls and WhatsApp messages from our correspondent.

FCTA sensitises schools

As part of measures to prevent the outbreak and the spread of cholera in schools across the Federal Capital Territory, the Director of the FCT Secondary Education Board, Sani Ladan, said the board had sensitised schools’ Principals, put in place measures, including sanitation, and monitoring of food vendors, to mitigate against the disease.

Ladan also said that the board had provided disinfectants, toilet papers, and hand washing at the school toilet facilities to ensure clean use for students, as well as bins to ensure proper sorting and disposal of waste.

“The (school) principals were sensitised to that issue, and there are so many measures that we are working on. One is the sanitation of the schools. Secondly, the food handling because even before now, all our cooks are well schooled on how to handle food issues. From the store, to where they would prepare it, to how they would package it, and how the students will eat it, and how the plates will be gathered and washed.

“And most of our schools now, we don’t even allow students to eat and drop anything anyhow. We have designed something like a bottle, so if there is anything watery or inside the water bottle, you will discard it there,” Ladan said.

He added that the board was working closely with the Public Health and Disease Control Departments of the FCT Health, Human Services, and Environment Secretariat, in the event of any cases of an outbreak across the schools.

Ondo activates surveillance

The Ondo State Commissioner for Health, Dr Banji Ajaka, said the state has put safety measures in place to combat the spread of cholera in Ondo state.

Ajaka said it has also activated its surveillance for immediate response to any case of cholera in the state.

This was contained in a statement issued by the Press Officer of the state Ministry of Health, Bisi Lawani, in Akure, the state capital on Tuesday.

Ajaka disclosed that two cases of the disease were recorded in the Okitipupa Local Government Areas of the state at the beginning of the year, but were curtailed by the rapid response team of the state

“An emergency preparedness committee would be put in place to work on issues such as the provision of potable water, sanitation, strengthening of the health institutions and other relevant sectors which would be a collaborative effort between all the agencies in the health sector and other MDAs such as Ministries of Environment, Agriculture, Information, Water Resources, and Waste Management Agency,” the commissioner added.