Nigeria, Adamawa state: officials fear cholera resurgence

Floods in northern Nigeria’s Adamawa state have left over 2,000 people displaced, many of them with no access to clean drinking water, leaving officials worried about a potential cholera outbreak.

[A] cholera outbreak in August and September [2009] killed 70 people out of over 300 infected, according to local government official Yahaya Hamman-Julde. Adamawa state health commissioner Zainab Baba Kwanci says the outbreak was caused by floodwaters contaminating wells used for drinking water.

There is not enough clean water for the displaced, most of whom are living in temporary shelters or in local schools, according to the Nigeria Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).

“We are doing our best to provide clean water for the displaced but our efforts are limited to a few trucks a day so people have to [turn to] unsafe water [to meet their needs],” Aliyu Sambo, head of NEMA in the northeast said. “It is an emergency situation and there is no time to sink boreholes, so we have to make do with what we can provide.”

Health commissioner Kwanci said a health worker strike over pay conditions across the state worsened the recent cholera outbreak, as many of the victims were unable to seek medical care.

Source: IRIN, 16 Sep 2009