The Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Jide Idris has blamed the outbreak of cholera in the country on poor sanitation, personal and environmental hygiene, and lack of access to clean water.
Idris spoke on a programme on Channels Television on Saturday. He noted that the agency is conducting a risk assessment, and alerted all the states on the outbreak.
Cholera is a food and water-borne disease, caused by the ingestion of the organism Vibrio cholerae in contaminated water and food.
NCDC had warned the public of the increasing trend of cholera cases across the country as the rainy season intensifies.
“To me, it’s a disease that’s bordering on basic sanitation. My observation is that prevention is very weak, which also bolsters your point that we seem to have forgotten the need for prevention or we’re not taking it very seriously. And in a situation where resources are limited, I think that’s the best approach,” he said.
“If you go back to this cholera case, it’s a problem of poor sanitation, good personal and environmental, it’s a problem of lack of access to water. the easiest way for good personal hygiene is hand-washing, especially after using the toilet, and before you cook your food.
“But in a situation where you tell people to do hand-washing and there’s no access to water, it’s a problem. So, I think everybody, including the Federal Government, the state government, different agencies, local governments, even the people themselves, the community, have to come around.”
The DG said the state governments have to ensure access to clean water, and toilets for their citizens.
The former Lagos state health commissioner stressed the need to train more environmental officers to ensure compliance with environmental regulations and standards.
