Inter Press Service: Northeast Nigeria: Urgent Need to Combat Deadly Cholera Outbreaks
Janet Cherono, program manager at the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) in Maiduguri

“The number of people who have been affected by cholera in northeast Nigeria has increased to 10,000. The disease is spreading quickly in congested displacement camps with limited access to proper sanitation facilities. One of the major causes of the outbreak is the congestion in the camps that makes it difficult to provide adequate water, sanitation, and hygiene services. … NRC is calling on the local governments in Nigeria’s northeastern states of Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe to end the cycle of yearly cholera outbreaks. If more land is not urgently provided for camp decongestion and construction of health and sanitation facilities, Nigeria is steering towards yet another cholera outbreak in 2019. … We are calling on the authorities to provide more space in camps and host communities for the construction of new water and sanitation facilities, and for the international community to provide the necessary funding. Only this way can we prevent new cholera outbreaks…” (11/12).