175 die from cholera outbreak in North-East

At least 175 people have fallen victims of a cholera outbreak in the northeast states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, according to a report by the Norwegian Refugee Council.

The NRC said the disease spread in camps which house tens of thousands of people seeking refuge following Boko Haram invasion of the communities.

As at early November, no fewer than 10,000 people have contacted the communicable disease.

“One of the major causes of the outbreak is the congestion in the camps that makes it difficult to provide adequate water, sanitation and hygiene services,” Janet Cherono, the NRC’s programme manager in Maiduguri, said.

“The rainy season has also worsened the conditions. If more land is not urgently provided for camp decongestion and construction of health and sanitation facilities, Nigeria is steering towards yet another cholera outbreak in 2019.”

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Nigeria suffers from a high-rate of water-borne diseases as a result of dilapidated infrastructure and under-investment.

President Buhari declared a “state of emergency” in the country’s water sanitation sector last Thursday, describing the statistics on open defecation and access to piped water as “disturbing”.