From Okwe Obi, Abuja

A Non-governmental Organisation, Springs Aid Foundation, has launched a door-to-door campaign to stem the devastating tide of cholera in Bwari Area Council, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

The FCT Administration had, on July 30th, recorded over 1000 cholera cases with Bwari topping the chart.

President of the Foundation, Comrade Kenneth Emeka Chima, yesterday, in Abuja, charged residents of the area to mind their health by drinking clean and hygienic water.

Aside reiterating the importance for them to keep their environment clean, he, also, called on government at all levels, to provide boreholes, sewage and drainage systems, to halt the health hazard.

He said: “We all are familiar that cholera siege has really increased in Bwari Area Council and in FCT as a whole. But Bwari has been declared epicentre of the outbreak.

“So far so good, we can not leave it in the hands of government alone in terms of passing this message.

“NGOs need to collaborate and support government approach in stemming the growing cases of cholera.

“As of 30th July, 2021, FCT alone recorded over 69 % death rate and the cases have exceeded 1000. So you can imagine that. The cases are still growing.

“As of today, I know that new statistics must have emerged. We can not fold our hands and watch our people die while the cases escalate. That is why we took it upon ourselves to contribute our quota.

“It is a door-to-door campaign. And you can see our slogan which is: ‘Stop the cholera campaign’. We have kick-started it.

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“It is a practical thing that is why we are taking the campaign and try to encourage them to be mindful of their personal hygiene and also environmental sanitation.

“When you are on the ground, it is a practical thing. Almost all of them get their source water from wells.

“When you are talking about sourcing clean water and you look at something that is sustainable, the first thing we are doing is to teach them how to boil water.

“When water is boiled you can still declare to a reasonable extend that it is clean. But if we have a bigger collaboration, what stops us from providing them with multiple boreholes like 10.

“It will serve them. What stops us from building and perfect sewage system for them?

“You know how cholera spread. Most of them do not have a proper latrine and toilet system. Some of them defecate in the field.

“The rainy season is upon us and it takes their faeces back to the system and they consume it and at the end of the day, the cases increase.”

Speaking on funding, he said: “It is an in house funding for now. We are yet to get support from government and big funders.

“But some of us are doing it on our own. As the president, I am a pharmacologist as well. We have other private sectors who are supporting us in the little way they can.

“We have plans to extend the campaign to the entire FCT and the country at large because from the information we get, we hear that the waterborne disease has spread to Plateau and Kano States.

“So, it is something that is touching every part. And we as an NGO, we have the capacity to lead the campaign. Once we see a proper collaboration and funding.”