No fewer than eleven states are beneficiaries of the UN Children’s Fund Cholera Preparedness and Response project in partnership with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA).
They are; Kano, Katsina, Jigawa, Adamawa, Borno, Yobe, Bauchi, Kaduna, Sokoto, Zamfara and Kebbi states.
Chisom Adimora, UNICEF WASH Officer, said this at the Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in Emergency Working Group Meeting in Abuja on Tuesday.
According to her, the intervention in partnership with the health sector has seen a total of 250,000 people having access to clean water through rehabilitation and chlorination of water sources.
She said so far, no fewer than 54,000 persons have received WASH supplies and cholera kits and hygiene promotion in these states.
The WASH Officer said through UNICEF direct support for prepositioning of supplies, a total of 2,679 HTH Chlorine, 12,060 cholera kits and 2,000 aqua tabs were distributed to benefiting state Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agencies.
She explained that no fewer than 150,000 beneficiaries were seen in the UNOCHA Supported intervention in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states.
This, she said was in the provision of emergency safe water supply services through construction, rehabilitation and optimisation of water facilities and reticulation.
She said the intervention also included operation and maintenance of safe sanitation facilities, procurement and delivery of pipeline WASH supplies and provision of hygiene promotions services.
Adimora called on all states to have a coordinated information platform and action plans to response to cholera and in emergency situations.
Mr Ibiyemi Olu-Daniels, Deputy Director, WASH Emergency Response, Federal Ministry of Water Resources, said the ministry had a 75 per cent completion level for ongoing construction of 109 Numbers sanitation and hygiene facilities in the country.
According to him, this includes the installation of solar-powered boreholes in 24 states and the FCT.
He said the ministry in partnership with UNICEF had carried out training for members of the WASH in emergency technical working group on cholera preparedness and response.
“The ministry is assisting recently trained states to finalise a working cholera response plan that will spell out preparedness activities like stock piling, WASH items prepositioning in anticipation of the rainy season (cholera season)’’.
Mr Emmanuel Awe, Director, Water Quality Control and Sanitation, said the Federal Government was optimistic that the new-found knowledge from the just concluded cholera training would enhance Nigeria’s preparedness as the rainy season approached.
Awe said it was expected that specific actions like finalising the development of Cholera Preparedness Prevention and Response Plan, the 2022 work plans, identification of hotspots areas would strengthen collaborative efforts.
He pledged the commitment of the Federal Government and its partners at ensuring that Case Fatality Ratio of cholera was brought down to the barest minimum in 2022.
