The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC),says Cholera is currently posing severe health crisis in the country.
The Director of the agency, Chikwe Ihekweazu,disclosed this at a pre-conference workshop ahead of the maiden edition of the Nigerian Conference of Applied and Field Epidemiology (NiCAFE), the director of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Chikwe Ihekweazu
He said in the first quarter of this year alone, a total of 14, 343 suspected cases of cholera leading to 325 deaths, including 345 laboratory-confirmed cases have been recorded by the NCDC.
Though the cholera outbreak this year is yet to be declared a national emergency, health experts fear its repercussions on the country’s health infrastructure already strained by the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said his agency is working to strengthen infodemics management as part of national emergency preparedness and response framework.
He noted that the NCDC is working with the World Health Organisation (WHO) in that regard.
Also speaking, WHO’s Infodemic Management Consultant, Abdulraman Danjuma, said that the outcome of collaborations among the national and sub-national governments as well as with partners and the private sector was to have an integrated Infodemic management system in the country for addressing public health response.
During the panel session on infodemics, the NCDC director of Prevention Programmes and Knowledge Management, Chinwe Ochu, emphasized the need to train the media on ways to manage infodemics during epidemics.
