No fewer than 40 persons, including secondary school students, from different local government areas of Ebonyi State,
have died since the outbreak of cholera in the state in February this year.
Some medical doctors in the state who spoke to LEADERSHIP described cholera as a disease caught from infected water that
causes severe diarrhea, vomiting and often causes death.
They attributed the outbreak of the disease to the inability of successive governments in the state to provide the people with potable water.
In April this year, six persons from three communities in the state, Edomia, Amachi and Ikeligu were confirmed dead and eight
others were hospitalized following suspected cholera outbreak in the areas.
In an interview with LEADERSHIP, the former state commissioner for health, Dr. Sunday Nwangele, said that medical experts in the
state have continued to advice people to maintain personal and environmental hygiene, to keep the disease at bay.
“When the first person died of cholera, the government instructed that the victim should be buried immediately without the usual burial ceremonies, but the people did not obey the directive, and this led to the spread of the disease.
“The people expose whatever food they eat to flies and these flies will perch on them and infect them with diseases such as
cholera’’, he said.
Nwangele observed that most residents of the state do not have toilet facilities; forcing them to defecate around their houses, a
development which he said had contributed to spread of diseases such as cholera in the state.
He said that during the administration of the immediate past governor of the state, Chief Martin Elechi, 30 houses were sealed for lacked of toilet facilities.
Nwangele advised the people to ensure regular washing of hands with running water, to avoid contracting diseases, as well as to make use of health facilities provided by the government whenever there is an outbreak of any epidemic.
Less than five days after three persons died in Edomia, Amaechi and Ikelegu, another cholera outbreak broke out in the state,
which affected 15 students of Girls’ High School, Azuiyiokwu, in the Abakaliki area.
The affected students were hospitalized at the Federal Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki, Former Governor Elechi, thereafter, donated
cartons of hand sanitizers, oral Rehydration Solution (ORS) and other preventive items to control the spread of the disease.
Dr. Nwangele noted that the essence of the donation was to ensure proper care of the affected students and prevent further
spread by providing the care-givers and others around them with the hand sanitizers and other preventive items.
Similarly few weeks after, another outbreak was recorded in Abakaliki, Izzi, Ebonyi, Ohaukwu, Ishielu, Ezza North and Ohaozara local government areas.
This time around, ten undergraduates of the Ebonyi State University (EBSU), were affected by the disease out of which one
died.
Apparently worried by the spread of the cholera in the state, the immediate past speaker, Ebonyi State House of Assembly, Hon Chukwuma Nwazunku, ordered the state Ministry of Health to declare a state of emergency in the health sector.
The House further compelled the Ministry of Health to provide the necessary drugs to the communities hit by the epidemic, and
expressed worry over the outbreak as well as the spread of the disease in the state.
While the state Ministry of Health battled to curtail the spread of the disease, as well as respond to the demands of the House, five
more deaths were recorded in the state.
In an interactive session with newsmen, the former state director of Public Health and disease control, who is now the special
adviser on Primary Health, Ebonyi North senatorial zone, Dr. Christian Achi, revealed that as at May 2015, 256 persons had been affected by cholera, saying that they were hospitalized in various hospitals in the state.
He said that the disease had spread to seven out of the 13 local government areas in the state. He traced the outbreak of the disease to Amachi community in Abakaliki local government area, adding that the two persons who died following the outbreak of
the disease resorted to self-medication, and warned the residents against falling prey to the scourge.
Achi explained that the latest casualties were recorded in Oriuzor Ezza North local government area and Umuogudu Akpu and
Umuogudu Oshia in Ohaukwu local government area.
In a bid to assist the state contain the spread of the disease, a team of medical experts from the Federal Ministry of Health, Abuja, arrived the state on April 22, 2015.
The team which stayed for only two days brought along with them assorted drugs to combat the disease.
That notwithstanding, in May another cholera outbreak was recorded in the state.
While the disease claimed two lives in Ozibo village, Ebonyi local government area of the state, seven others died in four
communities of Umuezeoka, Umuezeokaha, Ekka and Ori-uzor, Ezza North local government area.
The state epidemiologist, Dr. Francis Onwe who confirmed the deaths in Ezza North, said that over 20 persons had been
hospitalized in a private hospital located in Onueke, Ezza South local government area of the state.
While addressing the people, the head of Health Department, Imoha Development Centre, Ezza North local government area,
Sunday Eze decried the poor hygienic condition of the private hospital where the victims were receiving treatment, and
directed the occupants to vacate the premises within 48 hours to forestall further outbreak of the disease.
One of the relatives of the deceased, Chidozie Otta, whose mother, Mrs. Margret Otta, was affected by the disease, called on
the state government to provide drugs and other relief materials to assist victims of the disease in the area.
Addressing the people during a sensitization programme, a medical practitioner attached to FETHA, Dr. John Nwaeze, advised them to take the issues of their health seriously by washing their hands regularly; drinking safe water and avoid defecating in bushes around their surroundings.
At the end of the event, drugs of various kinds were donated by the member representing Ezza North/Ishielu federal
constituency in the House of Representatives, Chief Anayo Nwonu, for the control of the disease.
It was gathered that as at May, the death toll had risen to 42, while the first outbreak of the disease this year was recorded in
February.
The acting general manager of Ebonyi Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (EBRUWASA) Mr Sunday Opoke, while
speaking with LEADERSHIP on the water situation in the state, stated that over 3,000 water boreholes constructed across the
three geo-political zones of the state are currently not functional, noting that the situation has made it difficult for the rural
dwellers to access water in the state.
According to him, “the agency recently visited Ndieze-Ndiogbun community in Izzi local government area of the state, one of
the affected communities recently ravaged by the cholera outbreak in the state, and discovered that five villages in the
community have no boreholes at all.”
He noted that the available bore-holes in other villages were not functioning, as the agency discovered that the boreholes sunk
by some Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) lacked technical finesse as most of them were not properly supervised; shallow and had poor water quality.
He noted that in its effort to provide potable water to the people, and curb the menace of cholera, the agency repaired some
boreholes at Amasiri, Izzi local government area, among others, saying that the agency will soon repair other boreholes at Ezza
North, Ezza South councils, among others.
Following the determination of Chief Dave Umahi-led administration to curb the menace of cholera in the state, the
commissioner for Environment, Mr. Moses Ogodo-Ali, on assumption of office threatened to prosecute all landlords in the
state capital who fail to comply with government directive of providing modern toilet facilities for their tenants.
Mr. Ogodo-Ali, stated that the two weeks ultimatum given to the landlords which elapsed last week still stands, adding that any landlord who fails to comply with the directive will be prosecuted.
The commissioner noted that the directive followed the cholera outbreak in the state,which he said had claimed many lives. He
stressed that the decision was to ensure healthy and safe living environment for residents of the state.
“We believe that between now and yesterday, those who do not have their Water Closet System (WCS) in their houses must have completed them because that is the only way people contract cholera and other diseases”, he said.
Several medical experts have called on Governor Umahi led administration to complete the water schemes started by Chief Elechi, as well as to ensure that the cholera scourge in the state is brought under control, if not eradicated.
There is a consensus here that since the state was able to battle guinea worm to a standstill, it would also find a lasting solution to the spread of cholera in the state. Cc:lalasticlala, Ishilove Source: http://leadership.ng/news/453059/ebonyi-40-die-from-cholera 
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