Cholera vaccinations will soon be arriving in Nigeria, according to Dr. Sania Nishtar, CEO of Vaccine Alliance, Gavi, in an effort to stop the deadly and ongoing illness outbreak.
On Thursday, Nishtar made this announcement on her X handle.
She declared on June 27, 2024, that the organization was worried about the cholera outbreak in Nigeria and prepared to assist the nation in responding, including requesting emergency vaccination doses if necessary.
When the organism Vibrio cholerae is consumed by contaminated food or water, it can lead to cholera, a highly contagious food and waterborne illness.
The main contributing factors have been identified as the use of tainted water and poor sanitation, which are made worse by the arrival of the rainy season. The latter frequently results in a rise in cholera cases because of flooding and tainted water sources.
In 34 states and the Federal Capital Territory, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention reported 3,623 suspected cases of cholera as of July 15, along with 103 fatalities.
Since the start of the year, the current outbreak has spread to 187 Local Government Areas and has resulted in a cumulative case fatality rate of 2.8%.
Five years old was the most common age at which instances occurred, according to NCDC Director-General Dr. Jide Idris. Males account for 52% of cases, while females make up the remaining percentage.
On the other hand, he said that compared to the previous reporting week (July 8–14), there was a 5.6% decrease in the number of cases.
Nishtar tweeted on Thursday, saying, “Happy to hear that vaccines against Cholera, funded by the Global Vaccine Initiative, will soon be arriving in Nigeria to help stop the devastating and ongoing outbreak in that country. We are prepared to collaborate with UNICEF and WHO in order to help Minister Muhammad Pate, the government of Nigeria, and the NCDCgov’s prompt efforts to contain the outbreak and safeguard those who are most vulnerable.
“Despite the large number of cholera outbreaks this year, our stockpile is now fully replenished, and production continues at maximum capacity. We hope to keep supporting cholera-affected countries with their control plans. #stopcholera.”
The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Pate, responded to her message by thanking the CEO of Gavi for making the immunizations possible.
Pate tweeted, “Thanks #SaniaNishtar for facilitating our early access to
#gavi-funded #Cholera vaccines. We will deploy the vaccines efficiently and effectively in response to the ongoing outbreak.
“Thanks also to President Tinubu #officialABAT for his astute leadership in setting up a multi-sector cabinet committee to support the Emergence Operations Centre led by #NCDCgov to work with our 36 states in a national response to the outbreak. We are seeing early signs of slowing down but we’ll not relent as the situation can reverse. So, the cholera vaccines strengthen our hands.”
The minister also reiterated that the Federal Government is accelerating efforts to improve the water and sanitation condition in the country.
