Ali Pate: Cholera vaccines will soon be delivered to Nigeria

Ali Pate, coordinating minister of health and social welfare, says cholera vaccines will be delivered to Nigeria in “a couple of weeks”.

Pate spoke in Abuja during an interactive session with journalists.

There has been an outbreak of cholera in Nigeria in recent times, with Lagos, the nation’s commercial capital, the hardest hit.

“We have ordered for the vaccines through the Global Vaccine Alliance. They have approved it,” NAN quoted Pate as saying.

“We are expecting them in the next couple of weeks, so that they will be utilised in the areas that are hotspots.

“The President set up a cabinet committee that has worked very hard, 10 ministries, and in the last four weeks, we have seen dramatic reduction in the numbers of cholera reported.

“However, we are not relenting; it’s too early to declare victory.

“It can come back, because we are still in the rainy season, and we have deployed materials to all the states through the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) and the emergency operations centre led by the NCDC.”

An infection of the small intestine, cholera is caused by a bacterium called vibrio cholerae.

It is a water-borne disease that spreads rapidly in conditions where clean water and proper sanitation are lacking.

The primary mode of transmission is through the ingestion of contaminated water or food, and through open defecation.

Symptoms of cholera include vomiting, dehydration and diarrhoea.

As of June, Nigeria recorded more than 2,809 suspected cholera cases, resulting in 82 deaths.

Last month, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) said cholera vaccines “from the Gavi-funded global vaccine stockpile will soon arrive in Nigeria” to help curb the outbreak.