Nigeria has recorded more than 88,704 cholera cases and 3,208 deaths in 2021.

Abubakar Kende, secretary-general of the Nigerian Red Cross Society (NRCS) made the disclosure at  an ongoing three-day workshop on prevention of cholera in Abuja, yesterday.

He added that “the NRCS, in consultation with the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), and support from International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is commencing emergency relief action in five states.

“The intervention will take place in  Sokoto, Katsina, Kebbi, Gombe and Bayelsa states to slow down the rising cholera cases.”

According to him, recent NCDC Cholera Situation Report in 31 out of 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) indicates

suspected cases in 2021.

He said that “the NCDC Emergency Response Centre indicates that cholera in Nigeria in 2021 surpassed the total case count for 2020 and 2019.”

Kenda explained that the society and stakeholders called on government and international partners to assist  in intensifying the response to save lives and curb the spread of the epidemic.

In addition to the five states, he said the Independent Committee of the Red Cross was also supporting the control and prevention in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe.

According to him, many government agencies are being overwhelmed with COVID-19, which resulted in low attention to cholera.

He advised that relevant stakeholders should create awareness on access to clean water and proper sanitisation.

Mr. Bhupinder Tomar, head of delegation, Abuja Cluster, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Cresent Societies, noted  that there was urgent need to address the issue of cholera.

Tomar said the federation would provide short term solution for immediate reduction in mortality rate.

He emphasised the need to educate communities on adherence to the practice of good hygiene, assuring that the federation would provide opportunities for stakeholders to immediately address the cholera issue.

“We need to educate communities to get prepared before the next six months against future occurance,” he added.

Mr Nura Ydda, project monitoring evaluation and reporting officer, Kebbi State, said he would ensure the messages were translated into Hausa language.

He said Kebbi communities would learn and understand better when the messages are in their dialects.