Photo from here
af.reuters.com, September 8, 2017
LONDON
(Thomson Reuters Foundation) - At least 1.4 million people uprooted by
Boko Haram’s insurgency in northeast Nigeria are living in ‘cholera
hotspots’, prey to an outbreak of the deadly disease which is sweeping
through camps for the displaced, the United Nations said on Thursday.
An
estimated 28 people have died from cholera in the conflict-hit region,
while about 837 are suspected to have been infected with the disease,
including at least 145 children under the age of five, said the U.N.
children’s agency (UNICEF).
The outbreak was
first identified last week in the Muna Garage camp in Maiduguri, the
capital of Borno state, which is the heart of jihadist group Boko
Haram’s brutal eight-year campaign to carve out an Islamic caliphate in
northeast Nigeria.
About 1.8 million people
have abandoned their homes because of violence or food shortages, U.N.
agencies say, and many live in camps for the displaced throughout
northeast Nigeria.
Several aid agencies last
month told the Thomson Reuters Foundation that Nigeria’s rainy season
could spread disease in already unsanitary displacement camps, and
350,000 uprooted children aged under five are at risk of cholera, UNICEF
said.
“Cholera is difficult for young children
to withstand at any time, but becomes a crisis for survival when their
resilience is already weakened by malnutrition, malaria and other
waterborne diseases,” UNICEF’s Pernille Ironside said in a statement.
“Cholera
is one more threat amongst many that children in northeast Nigeria are
battling today in order to survive,” added Ironside, UNICEF’s deputy
representative in Nigeria.
UNICEF said aid
agencies have set up a cholera treatment centre at the Muna Garage camp,
chlorinated water in camps and host communities to curb the outbreak,
and mobilised volunteers and local leaders to refer suspected cases to
health facilities.
The disease, which spreads
through contaminated food and drinking water, causes diarrhea, nausea
and vomiting. It can kill within hours if left untreated, but most
patients recover if treated promptly with oral rehydration salts.
The
latest figures represent a 3.3 percent fatality rate - well above the 1
percent rate that the World Health Organization rates as an emergency.
The short incubation period of two hours to five days means the disease
can spread with explosive speed.
More than
20,000 people have been killed in the conflict with Boko Haram, at least
2.2 million have been displaced, and 5.2 million in the northeast are
short of food, with tens of thousands living in famine-like conditions,
U.N. figures show.
Writing
By Kieran Guilbert, Editing by Belinda Goldsmith; Please credit the
Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that
covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, property rights,
climate change and resilience. Visit news.trust.org
Cholera – Nigeria
People displaced by Boko Haram (photo from Uhuru spirit)
12 July 2017
World Health Organization
As of 30 June 2017, a total of 1558 suspected cases of cholera have been reported including 11 deaths (case fatality rate: 0.7%). Thirteen of these cases were confirmed by culture in laboratory. 50% of the suspected cases reported are male and 49% are female (information for gender is missing for 1% of the suspected cases). The disease is affecting all age groups.
Between 1 May and 30 June 2017, suspected cholera cases in Kwara State were reported from five local government areas; Asa (18), Ilorin East (450), Ilorin South (215), Ilorin West (780), and Moro (50) (information for local government areas is missing for 45 of the suspected cases).
Poor sanitation conditions observed in the affected communities is one of the predisposing factors for this cholera outbreak. An important risk factor is the lack of access to clean drinking water and poor hygiene conditions.
Public health response
The State Ministry of Health has established an Emergency Operations Center to coordinate the outbreak response with support from the Nigeria Centers for Disease Control, Nigeria Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program, National Primary Health Care Development Agency, the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, WHO, and partners. The following response measures are being carried out:
- National multidisciplinary teams were deployed to Kwara State to provide technical support.
- Cases are being managed in local health care facilities in Kwara State. Active case searching is ongoing in the affected and surrounding communities. These have been strengthened with the formation of surveillance teams made up of the above mentioned partners, and the deployment of local government area Disease Surveillance and Notification Officers (DSNOs).
- Collation and data entry of cases is currently ongoing.
- In order to improve laboratory investigations, cholera rapid diagnostic tests are being distributed to selected facilities and health care staff trained on their use.
- Efforts to improve case management are ongoing. On 15 June 2017, clinicians from the three most affected local government areas were trained on cholera case management, and infection prevention and control (IPC). The current IPC capacity is not well developed and there is poor access to safe water, poor sanitation and hygiene conditions as well as severe challenges to adhere to IPC standards. Efforts are further impeded by limitations of supplies, and a general requirement for patients to pay for treatment.
- Social mobilization activities continue with the use of Yoruba language radio ‘jingles’, and religious leaders had been sensitized in the affected state to create awareness and prompt early presentation to healthcare facilities. Communities have been mobilized through house to house sensitization on the use of Aquatab for household water treatment and safe water storage.
- Environmental investigations are ongoing, and water samples (a local community well and household drinking water) have tested positive for Vibrio cholerae.
- Laboratory response activities include the prepositioning and on-the-job training on use of rapid diagnostic tests in two health facilities. Sensitivity results of Vibrio cholerae shows resistance to Tetracycline and Ampicillin. Also, additional rapid diagnostic kits are expected to arrive.
- A multisectoral approach needs to be emphasized and participation encouraged. This would include ensuring proper medical waste management by the State Ministry of Health and access to clean portable water by the Ministry of water resources.
WHO risk assessment
The current outbreak occurs while the country is facing a serious humanitarian situation and is recovering from a large meningitis outbreak. At this stage, the overall risk is moderate at national level.
Potential issues of concern for this outbreak include the ongoing rainy season, the capacity challenges at the State level to manage the outbreak and the sharing of borders with five other States as well as Republic of Benin. Although these issues can potentially lead to the worsening of the outbreak and its spread to other States and neighbouring countries, the country has capacities to quickly control the outbreak.
The surveillance system should be strengthened in neighboring States to ease early detection of any potential spread of the outbreak.
WHO advice
WHO recommends enhanced surveillance for the detection of new cases and improvement of record keeping and data management at healthcare facility level. WHO recommends the urgent establishment of cholera treatment centres in the most affected areas, ensuring that adequate logistics are in place and that medical supplies are in stock. The establishment of a multisectoral approach is imperative to successfully addressing this outbreak.
WHO does not recommend any restriction on travel and trade to Nigeria on the basis of the information available on the current event.
See also
Nigeria (tag)
The Orthodox African Church (Patriarchate of Alexandria) denounces the exploitation of Africa by contemporary colonialists - Momentous statements by the Metropolitan Alexander of Nigeria, in the cadre of the Holy and Great Synod of the Orthodox Church 
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