A total of 3,623 suspected cases of cholera and 103 deaths from the disease have been recorded across across 34 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) since the beginning of this year, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC).
The Director General of the agency, Dr Jide Idris, made the disclosure Tuesday in Abuja while giving an update on the cholera outbreak and other related matters.
He said the rains are fully here with flooding already reported in some parts of the country, adding that the NCDC has observed a significant increase in the reported incidence of other epidemic prone diseases such as yellow fever, Lassa fever, and meningitis in addition to the ongoing outbreak of cholera the country .
He said the cholera cases were recorded across 187 Local Government Areas (LGAs), with a cumulative case fatality rate of 2.8% since the beginning of the year.
In addition, he said there was a 5.6% decline in the number of cholera cases in this reporting week (8th -14th July) as compared to the preceding week.
He said, “We also recorded a drop in the case fatality rate from 2.9% to 2.8%. Definitely there is a decline in case fatality rate from week 24 when the spike started to the present week. Whereas ongoing current efforts at the national and some state levels might have been yielding some results and largely responsible for the decline being reported, however, given the trend from previous years, we know it is not uhuru yet.”
The NCDC DG said the trend analysis from previous outbreaks shows the peak of the outbreak usually coincides with the peak of the rainy season, which is still some weeks ahead.
He said rainfall significantly impacts the spread of waterborne diseases by affecting water quality and availability.
He said, “Additionally, with the ongoing rainy season, there is an increased risk of mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria, yellow fever, dengue fever, and other respiratory-related illnesses such as cold, flu, and COVID-19. ”
While saying that almost all the states in Nigeria have reported cases of cholera, he said there appears to be an underreporting of the situation as required data from the states are not coming real time as expected given the trend in previous years.
He said this is largely due to inadequate resources to support surveillance and disease detection activities at the sub-national level.
He said additionally this may likely be further complicated by effect of political undertone for reporting cholera, which some see as a stigma or disease proxy indicator for inability of the affected communities/persons to have access to potable water and other basic amenities of life.
He further said the NCDC was implementing the national incident action plan for the response, intensifying efforts targeted at supporting states to conduct active case search, optimize laboratory capacity, with prepositioning of cholera management supplies and capacity building in anticipation of possible surge ahead.
He said, “We have our eyes on the ball, as we continue to strengthen case management efforts to sustain the decline in fatality ratio, until we report the global target CFR of less than 1%.”
He also said that the agency has deployed national rapid response teams (NRRT) to the top six states contributing about 83% of cholera cases.
He said the states are Lagos, Bayelsa, Abia, Ebonyi, Katsina and Zamfara States and that plans are in place to deploy to more states, to strengthen surveillance system, improve case management, infection prevention and control and community engagement towards building community resilience.
He added that the NCDC continues to monitor reports of yellow fever cases in Nigeria all year round.
He stated that as a result of the current raining season, “we are also observing an increase in suspected cases.Currently, there are 3 presumptive positive cases which are reported from Ekiti (2) and Bayelsa (1) and 1 death. 1 confirmed case is generally considered and outbreak.”
He called on all government agencies sub-national level actors, partners, civil society organizations, healthcare professionals, community leaders, and every citizen to redouble their efforts towards the prevention and containment of the diseases to avoid further loss of lives.
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