Chioma Umeha
Lagos – The United Nations, through the Nigeria
Humanitarian Fund, has allocated US$2 million (720,000,000) to support the
response to a deadly cholera outbreak in Yobe State, north-east Nigeria, that
could affect thousands of people.
A total of 404 cases and 15 deaths have been
reported, representing a 3.7 per cent case fatality rate since the beginning of
the outbreak, which was officially declared in four local government areas on
28 March.
The United Nations and its partners activated an
immediate emergency response in the affected communities in support of the
State Ministry of Health. However, additional resources are needed to ensure
that the outbreak is contained, especially ahead of the rainy season when the
risk of outbreaks and spreading of water-borne diseases is higher.
According to the press statement by the United
Nation, the funds will enable humanitarian partners to provide safe water to
over 1.6 million people, improve sanitation for thousands in the affected
communities, and boost the technical and human resource capacity in hotspot
areas so that cholera can be detected early and treated promptly.
Raising awareness of how to identify, prevent and
treat cholera is also a key part of the response to the outbreak.
“Cholera outbreaks can potentially impact and kill
thousands of people, especially women, children and men who are living in
overcrowded places such as camps for internally displaced persons.
“Surveillance and early detection are key to
limiting the number of fatalities and the spread of the outbreak,” said the UN
Humanitarian Coordinator Mr Edward Kallon.
“Acting swiftly is pivotal if we are to prevent
high mortality rates.”
These funds will help the UN and partners
strengthen the capacity of community health personnel and equip local health
facilities with diagnostic and treatment equipment as the rainy season gets
underway and access to some of the affected localities might be impacted by
flooding,” he added.
The humanitarian crisis in Nigeria’s north-east,
that has spilled over into the Lake Chad region, is one of the most severe in
the world today, with 7.7 million people in need of humanitarian assistance in
2018 in the worst-affected states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe, and 6.1 million
targeted for humanitarian assistance.
The Nigeria Humanitarian Fund (NHF), managed by
the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs under the leadership of
the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, was created to provide funds in a
prioritised, flexible and timely manner so those who are most in need of
life-saving support.
The NHF is one of 18 country-based pooled funds
and was launched during the Oslo Humanitarian Conference for Nigeria and the
Lake Chad region in February 2017.
To date, the NHF has raised $49.4 million in
contributions and pledges, thanks to the generous support of Sweden, Germany,
the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, Norway, Ireland, Switzerland, the Republic
of Korea, Canada, Spain, Iceland, Luxembourg, the Arab Gulf Program for
Development, Malta, Azerbaijan and Sri Lanka.
Of those $49.4 million, $35 million – including
this latest $2 million allocation — have now been allocated to various
organisations in support of the humanitarian response in north-east Nigeria.
