Cholera: FG Direct States, LGAs To Heighten Environmental Surveillance
By Alice Etuka, Abuja
Minister of State for Environment, Dr. Iziaq Salako has directed states and Local Governments to scale up environmental health surveillance in places such as garages, schools, restaurants and other places where food and drinks are sold.
Salako announced this in a statement on issued on Monday, June 24, 2024.
The Minister further urged all Commissioners for Environment and the Local Government Chairpersons to support environmental health officers across the country to step up sanitation and hygiene activities through enhanced community-led total sanitation.
He explained that, it was also to strengthen collaboration with the health authorities and other stakeholders in line with the one health approach of the federal government.
In addition, Salako informed that arrangements had been made to support most affected states with chlorine solution or tablets, water and food testing resources to avert further transmission across the country.
He noted that recent situation report from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) indicated a total number of 1,159 suspected cases, 65 confirmed cases and 30 deaths across 30 States.
He identified the most affected states contributing 90 per cent of the total cases to include Bayelsa, Lagos, Zamfara, Abia, Bauchi, Cross River, Ebonyi, Delta and Katsina
“The ministry has been actively involved through the Department of Pollution Control and Environmental Health Council of Nigeria (EHCON) in activities to curtail further transmission of the deadly disease.
“The ministry has been involved through water and food testing to identified sources of infection, environmental sanitation campaigns and household water chlorination,” he said.
The minister explained that cholera was a poor sanitation and hygiene driven disease and an acute diarrhoea infection caused by ingestion of unwholesome food or water contaminated with the bacterium vibrio cholerae.
