Cholera: NCDC may declare emergency, Lagos issues safety guidelines

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention said, on Wednesday, it might declare an emergency on the outbreak of cholera in the country.

The NCDC Director General, Dr Jide Idris, who spoke in Lagos, said the centre was monitoring the situation and might declare an emergency if data showed that the outbreak had gone beyond a manageable threshold.

Olajide spoke at the Adetokunbo Alakija Memorial Travel Medicine Lecture held at Civic Centre, Victoria Island, orgainised by the Nigerian Society of Travel Medicine.

The PUNCH reports that as Nigeria battles a cholera outbreak in 30 states, the World Health Organisation, the United Nations Children’s Fund, and the International Organisation for Migration held an emergency meeting in Lagos on Tuesday.

The WHO Country Representative, Dr Walter Mulombo, disclosed this on his X handle.

The NCDC, in its recent report, said from January 1 to June 11, 2024, over 1,141 suspected and over 65 confirmed cases of cholera, resulting in over 30 deaths, had been reported from 96 LGAs in 30 states.

Amid this, the Lagos State Ministry of Health said it had recorded 350 suspected cases of cholera in 29 wards across multiple LGAs with 17 confirmed cases and 15 fatalities attributed to severe dehydration caused by delayed presentation.