TheCable

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) says it has partnered with a third-party logistics company for the distribution of cholera response commodities to states.

Sebastian Yennan, NCDC’s incident manager, cholera technical working group, spoke on Tuesday at the monthly meeting of the water sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in the emergency working group in Abuja.

He said efforts are ongoing in providing response commodities to affected states in the country.

Yennan said NCDC’s intervention through cholera case management was carried out in partnership with the World Health Organisation (WHO) by distributing infection prevention and control kits, WASH kits, and chlorine powder among others.

He said Zamfara, Cross River, Adamawa and Ogun are the states with the highest cholera cases in the country.

He said the centre’s intervention is prioritised in the four states, adding that the kits distributed could also be used in emergency situations like the Lassa fever and diphtheria outbreaks.

“The NCDC has partnered with a third-party logistics company in the distribution of commodities and also to bring samples, our cholera response is at the 36 states and the FCT,” NAN quoted Yennan as saying.

“In Zamfara for instance, the governor visited the cholera treatment centre in Anka local government that was built by Doctors Without Borders/MSF, they have received response commodities.”

He said states must do more to prioritise cholera prevention by ensuring that funds were budgeted early and accessible.

The fund, Yenna said, is designed to strengthen the national health system.

He called on states to preposition their needs to access it before, during and after the disease outbreak.