With more than 1000 suspected and confirmed cases of cholera including 30 deaths in Borno state as of 07 Sept 2017, World Health Organization (WHO) has intensified its response efforts to contain the outbreak in Muna internally displaced persons (IDPs)camp in Maiduguri, Jere, Monguno and Dikwa local government areas (LGAs).
Prior to the outbreak, WHO had prepositioned Inter-agency Diarrheal Disease Kits across the state for immediate response to diarrhea and cholera outbreaks and has trained health workers including doctors, nurses, laboratory technicians and pharmacists on cholera case management, and infection prevention and control (IPC). These kits and health workers are boosting capacity for rapid response, including treatment of people with the disease in the affected camps and localities.
As the outbreak escalates, WHO is also scaling-up its response framework by deploying a team of already trained field volunteers, LGA facilitators, and mobile health teams to support in early detection, sample collection and line listing of suspected cholera cases. Without early detection and rapid response, the ongoing cholera outbreak can spread rapidly to areas other where access to safe water, sanitary and hygiene conditions are poor as it is currently in many parts of Borno state due to the current crisis.
“We are not just keeping up with cases but also expanding our response framework including personnel to achieve early detection and prevent further spread of cholera in Borno state,” said WHO Emergency Manager, Dr Collins Owili.
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