By Rauf Oyewole, Bauchi
ActionAid Nigeria has urged the Bauchi State Government and Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to declare a state of emergency over the outbreak of Cholera in the State to save the residents from the disease.
The Agency’s Director of Programmes, Hajia Suwaiba Yakubu Jibrin was in Dass local government of the state to donate to the victims of the disease. Over 3,000 persons have been admitted of the disease in the state.
As at June 17, according to the State’s Primary Health Care Development Agency, over 2,800 persons were hospitalised while 42 deaths were recorded.
ActionAid donated 1,500 kits to (Cholera Treatment Centres) CTC in Bauchi, Ningi, Dass and Toro. “Children as young as six years could be seen taking medication under mango shades due to congestion.
“Infact, there is an urgent need for the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to come to the aid of the people of Bauchi State to stem the spread of the disease to other communities. It is even surprising that the NCDC is yet to wade in despite a report of 591 confirmed cases between 29th May to July 16th 2021.”
Hajia Suwaiba implored households to observe critical hygiene rules during sallah celebration and beyond by ensuring that food is prepared under hygienic conditions to prevent further spread of cholera that may claim lives of the innocent.
Earlier, the Residence Programme Coordinator of ActionAid, Mr Anicetus Atakpu commended Bauchi state government for its effort so far but regretted that “there is a disconnect between agencies of government because if there is better synergy, record of infected persons and fatality will not be this high, so we advice the government to bring in more hands”.
“Our visit to cholera hotspot in Bauchi state has convinced us to believe that what we have donated was just a drop in the ocean and we feel more international agencies should also render help to the state in order to halt the spread of cholera”, Anicetus Ataku added.
While receiving the Action aid team in Dass, the local government hygiene promoter, Mallama Aishatu Ibrahim Gital blamed high rate of infection in the area to poor observance of personal hygiene habits including hand washing at critical times, clean toilet behavior and proper handling of food saying “WASH unit of the Dass L G has since commenced chlorination and decontamination of infected homes and embarked on aggressive awareness on observance of personal hygiene rules.”
