Chioma Umeha
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has deployed
39 staff with plans underway to engage additional 15 ad-hoc personnel, to
rapidly contain a confirmed outbreak of cholera in Mubi North and South local
government areas (LGAs) of Adamawa state.
“We have swiftly deployed technical staff to
coordinate partners’ response to the current outbreak, support case management,
surveillance and contact tracing of suspected cases to guide interventions and
ensure that the outbreak does not spread to other locations,” says Dr
Wondimagegnehu Alemu, WHO Representative (WR) to Nigeria.
As at 26 May 2018, 434 suspected cases, among
which 13 deaths have been reported in the affected areas, Alemu said in a
statement signed by Charity Warigon, the Communication Manager, WHO, on Monday
in Abuja.
This has necessitated the health authority to
activate an Emergency Operations Centre for concerted response and rapid
decision-making.
“The transmission rate of the ongoing cholera
outbreak in Adamawa state is indeed worrisome,” “Notwithstanding, WHO is
leveraging on its past experience and lessons learnt in controlling major
cholera outbreaks in internally displaced persons camps and host communities,
especially in Borno and Yobe states, he added.
WHO is coordinating the response activities,
including active surveillance within communities and health facilities, case
management of reported cases as well as daily review meeting at the Emergency
Operations Centre, to ensure timely control of the outbreak.
On her part, Dr Fatima Atiku Abubakar, Adamawa
state Commissioner for Health emphasised that the state health authority is
collaborating with WHO and other partners to ensure that the outbreak currently
reported from 12 wards of Mubi North and South LGAs is controlled.
“In response to the ongoing cholera transmission
in parts of Mubi North and South, we have activated all the relevant sectors
including WASH, designated a cholera treatment centre at General Hospital in
Mubi North LGA and activated an Emergency Operations Centre to rapidly
interrupt the transmission,” said Dr Abubakar.
“These efforts are already yielding results
indicated by a decline in the trend of case fatality ratio which was 17 per cent as at 12 May 2018 but reduced to three
per cent in less than two weeks”, she added.
Since the onset of the outbreak, WHO has been
actively coordinating response activities, including daily review meetings at
the Emergency Operations Centre, active surveillance in communities and health
facilities and case management to ensure timely control of the outbreak.
Other ongoing activities to bring the outbreak
under control include house-to-house sensitization by mothers in host
communities.
Traditional and religious leaders have also been
sensitized while media announcements are underway to ensure people in the
communities are aware of the risk of cholera, how it spreads and how to prevent
it. Cholera is relatively easy to treat, but it can also kill quickly if not
treated promptly.
This is why it is so important that the
populations are aware of its dangers, and the importance of immediate
rehydration if infected.
Although, reported cases are still contained in
Mubi North and South LGAs with a decline in case fatality ratio, more efforts
are needed and urgently too, as the incidence rate soars daily to avoid spread
to other parts of the state.
Adamawa is one of the most affected states in the
ongoing insurgency in northeast Nigeria.
According to WHO Health Resources Availability
Mapping System (HeRAMS), only 45 per cent of 1,120 health facilities are fully
functional and overstretched in a situation where 1.6 million people are in
need of various humanitarian support including health.
