At a press conference in Abuja on Tuesday, Dr. Jide Idris, the Director General of the NCDC, revealed that as of July 15, 2024, there had been 3,623 suspected cases of cholera and 103 deaths across 34 states and the Federal Capital Territory. He added that the outbreak had spread to 187 local government areas and had resulted in a cumulative case fatality rate of 2.8% since the start of the year. Idris also noted that the majority of cases were five years old, with males accounting for 52% of cases and females comprising the remaining cases.
However, he noted that compared to the previous week, there was a 5.6% decrease in the number of cases during this reporting week (8–14 July).
“As of July 15, 2024, we have logged 3,623 suspected cases and, regrettably, 103 deaths throughout 34 states, the Federal Capital Territory, and 187 Local Government Areas. Since the year’s beginning, the cumulative case fatality rate has been 2.8%. The majority of those affected are 5 years old, with 52% of cases involving males and the remaining instances involving females.
Additionally, we observed a 5.6% decrease in the number of cases during this reporting week (8–14 July) compared to the previous week. We also noted a 2.9% decrease in the case fatality rate from week 24 when the spike began to the current week. While ongoing efforts at the national and some state levels may have been partially successful in reducing the number of cases reported, we know that this is not Uhuru yet based on past trends.
According on trend research of past outbreaks, the peak of the outbreak typically occurs a few weeks ahead of the height of the rainy season. Additionally, fewer cases have been reported in some of the northern traditional hotspot states, which could be related to the delayed start of the rainy season in this region of the nation, the speaker noted.
He continued by saying that although while cholera cases had been reported in practically every state in Nigeria, there seems to have been an underreporting of the outbreak because, given the pattern in prior years, necessary data from the states had not been arriving in real-time as anticipated.
The main cause of this is a lack of funding for subnational surveillance and disease detection initiatives.
He said, “This may also be made more difficult by the political undertone surrounding cholera reporting, which some view as a stigma or disease proxy indicator for the affected communities’ or individuals’ inability to have access to clean water and other necessities of life.”
He claimed that in addition to the current cholera outbreak the nation is experiencing, there has been a notable rise in the recorded prevalence of other illnesses that are prone to epidemics, including meningitis, yellow fever, and Lassa fever.
Idris emphasized that the cholera outbreak has had a major impact on the health and well-being of our nation and that the Federal Government, through the NCDC, has been aggressively responding to it.
