Cholera kills 938, afflicts 33,661 in 22 Nigerian states

Nigeria’s Minister of Environment, Mohammad Mahmood Abubakar, says the country has so far recorded 33,661 cases of cholera in 22 states across the country leading to the death of not less than 938 persons.

The minister who addressed newsmen on the cholera outbreak in Nigeria Monday in Abuja, noted that it has become urgent to sensitize the general public on the outbreak and efforts made by the ministry to contain the scourge.

According to him, the latest situation report from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) showed that the disease has spread to 22 states and Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

He listed the affected states to include: Benue, Delta, Zamfara, Gombe, Bayelsa, Kogi, Sokoto, Bauchi, Kano, Kaduna, Plateau, Kebbi, Cross River, Niger, Nasarawa, Jigawa, Yobe, Kwara, Enugu, Borno, Kastina, Adamawa and FCT.

He said as part of efforts to combat the diseases, the ministry would be flagging off the National Environmental Sanitation Response Intervention to Cholera Outbreak in Kubwa, Abuja which is currently the epi-centre in the FCT.

The minister, therefore, charged state and local governments and other stakeholders to step up their sanitation and hygiene programmes and activities to curb the spread of the diseases.