Katsina State health officials have reported 118 suspected cases of cholera across various parts of the state.
As a result, the state government has activated its Incidence Management System to help manage the outbreak.
In a press conference held on Wednesday, the Incidence Manager and Director of Epidemiology at the State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr Kabir Suleiman, said Katsina is one of the states termed as high risk for cholera based on the report of the global task force for cholera control.
Suleiman stated that they are fully prepared to prevent the spread of the disease and other vaccine-preventable outbreaks in the state.
He noted that the state government has embarked on building about 102 health facilities across the local government areas, and already looking at other interventions such as improvement in WASH facilities, solarisation and rehabilitation of boreholes in many local government areas.
He said the state government has also designated 34 comprehensive health centres with cholera treatment units, and centres for admission of cholera cases.
Suleiman explained that the Global Taskforce for Cholera Control shows that Katsina has 10 of its LGAs termed as high risk, with Funtua, Jibia and Batsari topping the list.
He said, “We have also commenced deployment of commodities to the 34 LGAs of the state because Katsina is one of the states termed as high risk for Cholera based on the report of the global task force for Cholera control.
“We also have Oral Rehydration Points. We maintained a very sensitive surveillance system where we have regular reporting in those areas to manage the situation.
“For now, we don’t have an outbreak of Cholera but the state is fully prepared, basically we can coordinate any outbreak that affects the state at any point in time.
“We have all the necessary gadgets needed from the LGA to the state level to respond to these outbreaks.
“Cholera is a very severe illness which is detected with acute diarrhoea commonly associated with a lot of complications. Cholera is basically caused by bacteria.
“Katsina is one of the most populous states in Nigeria with over nine million population cut across 34 LGAs and 361 wards. Among these, we have 21 LGAs that are security-compromised.”
“As of today, we have recorded about 118 suspected cases of cholera out of which two were confirmed from Kusada LGA.
“We have maintained our system at alert, where we are at alert mode, rapid response team including the surveillance and notification officers have been trained where we emphasize the need for them to detect cases wherever they are.
“In terms of infection prevention and control, we want to ensure that if the infection happens, it does not spread especially in the healthcare settings.
“And on risk communications, we have already produced jingles which we are about to start airing for people to be sensitised.”
“Using our network of VCMs, we have trained over 3,000 VCMs that go from house to house to sensitize women on how best to maintain personal hygiene and make use of sanity water and the issue of eating well-cooked food,” he added.