The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has said that it might declare an emergency on the cholera outbreak in the country.
According to Dr. Olajide Idris, the NCDC Director General, the centre was closely monitoring the situation and was ready to declare an emergency if reports showed that the outbreak had gone beyond a manageable threshold.
The NCDC announcement is coming as Nigeria battles a cholera outbreak in at least 30 states which prompted the World Health Organisation, the United Nations Children’s Fund, and the International Organisation for Migration to hold an emergency meeting in Lagos on Tuesday.
In a recent report by the NCDC, it was revealed that from January 1 to June 11, 2024, over 1,141 suspected and over 65 confirmed cases of cholera, had resulted to over 30 deaths. These cases had been reported from 96 LGAs in the 30 affected states.
In Lagos, the State Ministry of Health said it recorded 350 suspected cases of cholera in 29 wards across several LGAs with 17 confirmed cases and 15 fatalities credited to severe dehydration caused by delayed presentation.
As such, the NCDC DG warned that prevention and preparation were key to tackling such a disease outbreak.
Meanwhile, the Lagos State Government, had on Wednesday, issued precautionary measures on cholera prevention to schools, parents and guardians.
A statement signed by the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, Jamiu Alli-Balogun, revealed that the state government had created awareness among vulnerable groups and the school system to curb the outbreak.
Some of the guidelines or advisories, the state government had urged schools and schoolchildren to follow were:
- To ensure that pupils/students carried a hand sanitiser and frequently washed their hands with soap and water, before meals and after using the restroom.
- To ensure that all school food handlers follow strict hygiene practices to prevent contamination and the spread of diseases.
- To ensure that oral rehydration salts were readily available at school clinics or sick bays to promptly manage cases of dehydration cases.
- For parents to keep children at home if they showed any signs of illness and seek urgent medical advice.
