Cholera: Kano, Katsina, Others Benefit From UN Prevention Programme

No fewer than eleven states in Nigeria have benefited from the United Nations Children’s Fund Cholera Preparedness and Response project.

UNICEF WASH Officer, Chisom Adimora, disclosed this at the Water Sanitation and Hygiene in Emergency Working Group Meeting in Abuja on Tuesday.

The project is in partnership with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

The states are; Kano, Katsina, Jigawa, Adamawa, Borno, Yobe, Bauchi, Kaduna, Sokoto, Zamfara and Kebbi states.

The intervention in partnership with the health sector has seen a total of 250,000 people having access to clean water through rehabilitation and chlorination of water sources.

She said so far, no fewer than 54,000 persons have received the WASH supplies and cholera kits as well as hygiene promotion items in these states.

The WASH Officer said through UNICEF direct support for prepositioning of supplies, a total of 2,679 HTH Chlorine, 12,060 cholera kits and 2,000 aqua tabs were distributed to benefiting states through their rural water supply and sanitation agencies.

She explained that no fewer than 150,000 beneficiaries were seen in the UNOCHA Supported Intervention in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states.

This, she said, was in the provision of emergency safe water supply services through construction, rehabilitation and optimisation of water facilities and reticulation.

She said the intervention also included operation and maintenance of safe sanitation facilities, procurement and delivery of pipeline WASH supplies and provision of hygiene promotions services.

Adimora called on all states to have a coordinated information platform and action plans to respond to cholera and emergencies.

The Deputy Director, WASH Emergency Response, Federal Ministry of Water Resources, Mr. Ibiyemi Olu-Daniels, said the ministry had a 75 per cent completion level for the ongoing construction of 109 sanitation and hygiene facilities in the country.

According to him, this includes the installation of solar-powered boreholes in 24 states and the FCT.

He said the ministry in partnership with UNICEF had carried out training for members of the WASH in the emergency technical working group on cholera preparedness and response.

The Director, Water Quality Control and Sanitation, Mr. Emmanuel Awe, said the Federal Government was optimistic that the new-found knowledge from the just concluded cholera training would enhance Nigeria’s preparedness as the rainy season approached.

Awe said it was expected that specific actions like finalising the development of the Cholera Preparedness Prevention and Response Plan, the 2022 work plans, identification of hotspots areas would strengthen collaborative efforts.

He pledged the commitment of the Federal Government and its partners to ensuring that the Case Fatality Ratio of cholera was brought down to the barest minimum in 2022.