The governments of Abia and Imo in the South-East have separately initiated proactive measures to ensure that their states are secured from the cholera outbreak currently ravaging some states in the country.

A survey by journalists in the two states confirms they both enjoy a clean bill of health as far as the scourge is concerned.

In Abia, the permanent secretary, ministry of health, Dr Ifeyinwa Ume-Kalu, told journalists in an interview that the state had no confirmed case of the disease.

Ms Ume-Kalu said that the ministry had put measures in place “to identify and follow up as well as prevent an outbreak of the disease”.

She described cholera as a bacterial disease caused by unsanitary conditions and therefore urged residents to always ensure access to clean water and environment.

Also, the director, public health and disease control in the ministry, Dr Orie Agomoh, said although there was no confirmed case of cholera in the state, yet, the ministry was not resting on its oars in checking possible outbreaks.

Ms Agomoh said that timely testing of suspected patients was one sure way of checking outbreaks.

She said that although the ministry recorded 109 cases of stooling and vomiting between January and June in six of the 17 local government areas (LGAs), samples sent for test were verified and returned as negative.

“Nevertheless, because of the ongoing outbreak reported in some states, the ministry has instituted response measures towards prevention and identification of any suspected case and appropriate treatment.

“As part of the intervention, citizens are advised to continue to observe preventive measures to stay safe,” she said.

Ms Agomoh listed the preventive measures to include ensuring access to safe drinking water, practising sanitation, proper hand-washing and maintaining personal hygiene.

Others are handling food safely, washing fruits and vegetables properly before consumption and cooking food properly before eating.

She also warned residents to avoid roadside foods and drinking of untreated water.

She urged the residents to remain vigilant and take necessary precautions to prevent the outbreak of the scourge in Abia, promising further updates, when necessary.

She supplied the phone and email contacts to be used in case of any emergencies, as follows:

08168440992, drprincessorieagomoh@gmail.com and 08030960031, eoelezuo@yahoo.com.

Other stakeholders in the health and environmental sectors, who spoke on the epidemic, also recommended preventive measures to avert an outbreak of the disease in Abia.

They argued that both the government and residents have a responsibility to ward off the disease and keep the state cholera-free.

The Foundation for Environmental Rights Advocacy and Development advised the state government to develop an effective emergency action plan to proactively prevent the disease outbreak.

The executive director of the foundation, Nelson Nwafor, said there was an urgent need for the government to adopt an inter-ministerial approach towards ensuring that there would be no record of an outbreak of the epidemic in Abia.

Mr Nwafor said the ministries of health, environment and information ought to be mobilised to embark on a pragmatic action toward maintaining public health.

He also said that those ministries should collaborate in educating the public on the need for personal hygiene and environmental sanitation.

He said: “Cholera is a disease that thrives in an unsanitary and unhygienic environment, therefore, emphasis should be placed on healthy living among the citizenry.

“We commend the rapid approach adopted by the state ministry of health so far, where some 109 suspected cases across six LGAs returned negative results after diagnosis.

“We also encourage the government not rest on its oars, in the thinking that it is home and dry.

“Now is the time to activate all relevant MDAs, given that movement to and from affected states has not become a public health concern yet”.

Mr Nwafor also called on the government to work closely with the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control in adopting relevant measures to prevent an outbreak in Abia.

He commended the Alex Otti-led administration for allocating 15 per cent of the state’s 2024 Budget to health, and urged it to leverage this provision to ensure rapid response in case of a cholera outbreak.

Mr Nwafor further urged the government to extend its ongoing rehabilitation of state-owned hospitals to the primary healthcare centres across the state.

“The issue of cholera outbreak is one which an efficient primary healthcare system would take care of.

“The State Government must ensure that efficient measures are adopted to ensure that people don’t die of treatable and preventable diseases,” Mr Nwafor said.

According to him, the major concern now is the toll the epidemic may take, if it breaks out in rural areas, where there is no access to basic health amenities.

“Abia Government must see to it that the goal of a reliable primary healthcare sector is actualised, and that everyone can have and enjoy access to quality healthcare services,” he said.

A nurse, Esther Kalu, warned residents against drinking contaminated water and eating roadside food, in order to prevent an outbreak of the disease.

Ms Kalu said: “These days, people are becoming too careless with what they eat and drink, hence the increasing reported cases of outbreaks in other states.

“Some of the plastic containers used for selling of drinks, like zobo, tiger nut and soya milk, are already contaminated and when you consume the drinks you might be infected.

“The fact that Abia has yet to have any confirmed case is not a guarantee that it could not occur in the future.”

Ms Kalu advised people to quickly go to hospital whenever they observed frequent stooling and vomiting and not resort to self-medication.

In a similar vein, the Imo government has said that there has not been any confirmed case of cholera outbreak in the state.

The acting permanent secretary, ministry of health, Austin Okeji, also told journalists in an interview that no mortality had been recorded from cholera.

“The picture in Imo is that we don’t have any confirmed case of cholera outbreak yet.

“Nevertheless, from an ongoing surveillance of the situation in the state, we enlisted over 30 suspected cases and collected samples for test.

“So far, we sent about 32 samples of suspected cases considered to be of any person that came up with reported diarrhea conditions, with or without vomiting.

“All the tests turned out to be negative for cholera, and on that basis, we are saying we don’t have cholera outbreak in the state,” Mr Okeji said.

However, he explained that the state government was escalating efforts to prevent the occurrence of an outbreak of the disease in the state.

He said the ministry was carrying out risk communication and extensive sensitisation of the populace by letting them know the risk factors, basically around hygiene and sensitisation as well as safe disposal of human waste, like sewage.

Mr Okeji further said that sensitisation on the effect of ending open defecation, ensuring proper cooking of food and protecting foods from flies are also being emphasised.

He advised that vegetables and fruits should not be eaten without properly washing them with salt and water.

“We are emphasising handwashing as a practice that has been known to be effective in preventing a lot of infections that are about the gastrointestinal tract, which cholera is one of them.

“We advise people not to take for granted sachet and bottled water as very safe because it is known that so many people parade what they call pure water as safe for drinking but, contrary to that, they are sources of high infections,” Mr Okeji said.

He further disclosed that the state government was driving efforts to check some of the outlets of unsafe water packaging factories in the state.

He urged the people to boil their water before drinking.

He further warned that those who do not take seriously the public health advisory may end up becoming vendors and vessels for spreading cholera.

“We have gone on air repeatedly and using the social mobilisation network across the 27 LGAs engaging town announcers on public health advisory.

“We are working with community-based, traditional and religious organisations to further spread the health advisory on cholera prevention.

“We are also propositioning materials, including Oral Rehydration Salt and antibiotics to help manage the situation in our peripheral health centers and some high volume health facilities to tackle the incident in case they occur,” Okeji said.

He further said that information, education and communication materials to make people understand the causative, presentation and preventive measures had been placed in most health facilities in the state.

Mr Okeji advised residents to observe high level of hygiene in their immediate environments in order to prevent cholera outbreak.

(NAN)