By Sakina Ahmed Yola
Pan-African Medical Journal traced the first incidence of cholera outbreak in Nigeria to 1970. It also described cholera caused by vibrio cholera as a global threat to public health. The first recorded case of cholera was in a community near Lagos in December, 1970. As if that was not enough, a major epidemic was also recorded in 1971 with about 23,000 cases reported.
After that many cholera outbreaks have been recorded in Nigeria which health experts have attributed to breaches in the water, sanitation and hygiene infrastructure used by people permitting large-scale exposure of food or water to contamination often lead to cholera outbreaks.
According to the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) during an epidemic, the source of the contamination is usually the feces of an infected person that contaminates water or food; it is therefore not surprising that Nigeria has had to contend with the disease considering the poor toilet facilities and inadequate supply of pipe borne water in the country.
Records available at CDC shows that between January and August, 2018 alone, about 434 Nigerians died as a result of cholera and about 23,893 suspected cases of cholera recorded
These suspected cases of cholera and deaths were recorded in seventeen states namely, Adamawa, Anambra, Bauchi, Borno, Ebonyi, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kogi, Nassarawa, Niger, Plateau, Yobe, Sokoto, Zamfara as well as the Federal Capital Territory .The world Health Organization and other partners confirmed that the suspected cases as well as death figures in 2018 alone exceeded the combined figures of 2015 to 2017.
This is a clear indication that Nigeria is still battling with hygiene issues and non-availability of pipe- borne water across the country. Most people are left to provide water for themselves and some of these water sources fall short of the required standard of drinking or consumable water in terms of hygiene.
The problem is more pronounced in the rural areas where some communities are still drinking from ponds, stagnant streams and rivers. Sometimes, these water sources are shared with animals that drink directly from them thereby increasing the risk of cholera. Research records revealed that access to pipe- borne water in 1990 was thirty-two percent while in 2015 it dropped to seven percent. Again, access to improved sanitation in 1990 was thirty-eight percent while in 2015 it equally dropped to twenty-nine percent.
Furthermore, research findings revealed that twenty-five percent of Nigerians still practice open defecation placing the country as number two of countries where open defecation is commonly practiced in the whole world.
It is important to note that timely intervention of the World Health Organization in terms of financial and logistic assistance to the government in times of cholera outbreaks in the country has helped in no small measure in reducing casualty figures.
For instance, following the confirmation of cholera outbreak on the 12th of May, 2018 in Adamawa State, when Nigerian health workers were on strike, WHO was able to engage health workers on ad-hoc arrangement for immediate response to the outbreak throughout the period the strike lasted. WHO also reduced fatality ratio from 17% to 2.2% within two weeks by establishing and managing a cholera treatment centre at Mubi General Hospital and also provided technical supervision for the chlorination of water sources among other things.
Also In Borno, following a reported cholera outbreak in Kukawa local government area in February this year, WHO deployed its mobile health team that facilitated early detection and response, same for Bade local government area of Yobe State where WHO trained Rapid Response Team that diligently responded to cholera outbreak in the state.
There is no doubt that the World Health Organisation deserves all the support it can get to continue the humanitarian work it started
