No fewer than three persons have died in a fresh cholera outbreak in Kukawa Local Government Area of Borno, the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Haruna Mshelia, has said.
Mshelia made the disclosure when the Director-General, World Health Organization, Dr. Tedros Ghebrayesus, visited the WHO’s Emergency and Response Centre on Friday in Maiduguri.
He said that about 700 cases of cholera were recorded in Baga, Doron Baga and Kukawa in the past weeks.
He said that the state government in collaboration with WHO and other partner agencies had scaled up activities to combat the outbreak in the affected communities.
Mshelia said the state government in the past six months conducted vaccination to control the disease.
The commissioner added that the state government, with the support from WHO and other organizations, had also executed various programmes to control, hepatitis E, malaria, polio, measles, meningitis and other diseases.
Mshelia called for closer collaboration with WHO to enhance healthcare delivery in the state.
Ghebrayesus assured of WHO’s commitment to contain the spread of cholera, polio and other diseases in the state.
He said, “The current cholera outbreak was recorded in areas where vaccination was not conducted. The outbreak would be analysed to avert future occurrences.”
He commended the state government for demonstrating the political will to control the outbreak and transform healthcare service delivery in the state.
It would be recalled that 61 persons died of cholera between June and December 2017.
Source: (NAN)
