About five more persons have been confirmed dead following a cholera outbreak in Igudagu village of Okpuitumo community in Abakaliki Local Government Area of Ebonyi state.
The state Commissioner for Health, Moses Ekuma, made this known while giving an update on the outbreak on Monday, saying that 11 cases have also been confirmed in the community.
This is as the total number of cases confirmed has risen to 80 and 18 deaths recorded in Abakaliki, Ebonyi, and Izzi local government areas.
“Earlier before now, we had about 69 cases and 13 deaths, but as of yesterday, we had a fresh outbreak in another local government area of the state. 5 deaths and 11 cases in the Igudagu village of the Okpuitumo community in Abakaliki local government area. we now have 80 cases and 18 deaths, so far the outbreak has occurred in three local government areas,” the commissioner said.
Ekuma noted that the 11 persons affected in the Okpuitumo community are responding to treatment, adding that the Rapid Response team is already in the community for intervention and preventive control.
“In this outbreak, we have put some preventive measures to curtail the spread, we have deployed our Rapid Response Team to the affected villages and communities. The cholera treatment units have been activated health commodities deployed,” he said.
“Apart from the five persons who died before the intervention of the Rapid Response Team, we have not recorded any other death. The 11 persons affected in the fresh outbreak in Okpuitumo community are responding positively to treatment”.
The Health Commissioner stated that health education is ongoing in different communities in the state to create awareness on guidance and preventive measures to observe to avoid the spread of the diseases.
“Health personnel are also carrying out health education in our communities. There is a jingle on the radio and television to create awareness of preventive measures and to adopt proper hygiene by washing hands regularly with clean water and soap. We have been able to curtail the outbreak from Ndibokote village of Ezza Inyimagu in the Izzi Local Government Area where 10 deaths were first recorded,” he said.
The state government says it is committed to the well-being of the people, adding that water stations have been put in the communities, as the state water resources are working assiduously to restore clean water supply in all the communities across the state, hence the disease has been attributed to inaccessible to clean water and open defecation.
He said, “The Ebonyi water schemes have been activated as the Ministry of Water Resources is working assiduously to restore water supply to the communities across the state.
“The issue of open defecation, we are working with the Ministry of Environment to tackle the attitude. You know there are some cultures you cannot change overnight, but with health education, we can achieve it. In Ebonyi State, a law has been passed against open defecation, so these are all measures that have been put in place to stop the outbreak of Cholera disease”.
“It’s a disease of poor sanitation, so if we improve our environment and provide good drinking water, this disease will be a thing of the past”.
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