The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Ali Pate, says the cholera vaccines the nation is expecting will be delivered in a few weeks.
He disclosed this in Abuja, while fielding questions from newsmen.
He said, “We have ordered for the vaccines through the Global Vaccine Alliance. They have approved it.
“We are expecting them in the next couple of weeks, so that they will be utilised in the areas that are hotspots.”
He, however, said that cholera was preventable with better sanitation, a stop to open defecation and end to contamination of water and food.
Pate said that President Bola Tinubu set up a multi-sectoral cabinet committee, comprising ministries of water resources, environment, information, education, health, and state governments to address the disease.
“The President set up a cabinet committee that has worked very hard, 10 ministries, and in the last four weeks, we have seen dramatic reduction in the numbers of cholera reported.
“However, we are not relenting; it’s too early to declare victory.
“It can come back, because we are still in the rainy season, and we have deployed materials to all the states through the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) and the emergency operations centre led by the NCDC.”
Cholera, an infection of the small intestine, is caused by a bacterium called Vibrio Cholerae, causing serious disease outbreak and even death.
It is a water-borne disease that spreads rapidly in conditions where clean water and proper sanitation are lacking. It kills within hours if not immediately attended to, and if unchecked, it spreads fast.
The primary mode of transmission is through the ingestion of contaminated water or food, and through open defecation.
The symptoms of cholera include vomiting, dehydration and diarrhoea.
As of June, a state of emergency was declared over an outbreak of cholera in Lagos, which has since spread to other states including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), with more than 2,809 suspected cases across 33 states, resulting in 82 deaths.
By Folasade Akpan
