The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, NCDC, recently, reported 1,528 suspected cases and 53 deaths from cholera across 31 states and 107 Local Government Areas in Nigeria since January this year.
The NCDC also predicted the situation would be worse as the Rainy Season intensified, adding that a recently conducted Risk Assessment placed Nigeria at high risk of cholera transmission and impact.
To tackle this pending danger, the nation’s disease control centre said the Federal Government had activated the National Emergency Operation Centre for cholera which would coordinate the national response, especially across the affected states, to interrupt disease transmission and reduce the impact and other socioeconomic complications of the disease.
The NCDC further explained that through the National Technical Working Group, it had carried out prevention and response efforts which included prepositioning and distribution of medical supplies for case management, infection prevention and control, among others, to all the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
Also, the responses of some state governments were released to the public recently, making a similar statement as that of the Federal Government and the NCDC.
For instance, the Anambra State Ministry of Health, two weeks ago, said among other things that it had taken a swift action by activating the state’s Disease Surveillance and Notification Officers across the 21 Local Government Areas of the state in response to the cholera outbreak in the country.
In both responses, it seemed the federal and state governments are missing the information need of the situation. People, particularly those living in rural areas, where there is high risk of this killer disease, need to be properly informed about the disease, especially as regards its causes, how it spreads, the symptoms and possibly preventive measures.
Against this backdrop, we urge the Federal Government to begin to do something more than the activation of the National Emergency Operation Centre and the state’s Disease Surveillance and Notification Officers.
Community engagement and information campaigns on how to prevent cholera infection are very germane this time.
The governments should make use of traditional media, churches, mosques, marketplaces, among others, to pass information about the disease to the people.
If people are aware of the risk factors and the causes of cholera, the spread of the disease will not only be minimal but also be contained.
Against this backdrop, we appeal to the Federal and State Governments to urgently reach out to the people, particularly those in the hinterlands, through the Ministries of Information and Health, including the National Orientation Agency, to get the people properly informed about the disease and its means of transmission.
A stitch in time, they say, saves nine.
