Nigeria to receive cholera vaccine soon – Gavi

The Chief Executive Officer of Gavi – the Vaccine Alliance, Sania Nishtar, has said Nigeria will soon receive cholera vaccines to help in the fight against the ongoing epidemic.

Ms Nishtar made this known in a post on her official X handle on Thursday.

She said Gavi-funded cholera vaccines are arriving soon in Nigeria to combat the outbreak, supporting government efforts to contain and protect high-risk individuals.

“Encouraged to learn that cholera vaccines from the Gavi-funded global vaccine stockpile will soon arrive in Nigeria to help curb the country’s deadly and ongoing outbreak. We stand ready to work with our partners – UNICEF and WHO, to support Minister Muhammad Pate, FMOH Nigeria, and NCDC’s timely efforts to contain this outbreak and protect those at the highest risk,” she said.

Minister reacts

Responding to Ms Nishtar, the Coordinating Minister for Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Pate, expressed gratitude to Ms Nishtar for facilitating early access to Gavi-funded cholera vaccines.

He said these vaccines will be deployed efficiently and effectively to combat the ongoing outbreak.

The minister also appreciated President Bola Tinubu’s leadership in establishing a multi-sectoral cabinet committee to support the Emergency Operations Centre led by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (NCDC), in coordinating a national response across 36 states.

Mr Pate said though the country is observing early signs of a slowdown in infections and fatalities, authorities will maintain efforts to reverse the situation adding that the arrival of cholera vaccines will bolster our response.

He said the country is working towards improving water and sanitation.

“We are expediting efforts to improve water and sanitation infrastructure in the short and medium term, in collaboration with the Ministries of Water Resources and Environment, subnational governments, private sector partners, and civil society. We appreciate the technical support and advocacy provided by UNICEF Nigeria,” the minister said.

Cholera in Nigeria

The Director General Nigeria Centre for Disease and Control, Jide Idris, said Nigeria has recorded a total of 3,623 suspected cholera cases and 103 deaths across 34 states, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and 187 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in 2024.

Mr Idris said this on Tuesday while addressing the press in Abuja.

He stated the number of deaths translates to a cumulative case fatality rate of 2.8 per cent since the beginning of the year.

Mr Idris stated that there has been a decline in the number of cases in the previous week.

“There was a 5.6 per cent decline in the number of cases in this reporting week (8th -14th July) as compared to the preceding week. We also recorded a drop in the case fatality rate from 2.9 per cent to 2.8 per cent,” he said.

Cholera, response activities

Cholera is a waterborne disease caused by the ingestion of Vibrio cholerae, typically through contaminated water and food.

The water is usually contaminated by the faeces of infected individuals, which can happen at the source, during transportation, or storage at home.

Additionally, food can become contaminated by soiled hands during preparation or consumption, leading to the spread of the disease.

The symptoms of cholera include acute, profuse, painless watery diarrhoea.

The agency noted that as part of its response activities, it had distributed medical supplies for case management, infection prevention and control, and laboratory to all medical centres nationwide.

Also, it has provided offsite and onsite support to states such as Lagos and Ogun and followed up for daily reporting and progress with response activities.

The agency also ensured ongoing sub-national level training of laboratory scientists on sample collection and analysis as well as training of community mobilisers on cholera key messages.

Distribution of jingles, flyers, and posters containing key messages on cholera prevention to all states and Federal Capital Territory.