The Humanitarian Times

By Abdulkareem Haruna

Following an exclusive report  by The Humanitarian Times last week, officials of the Borno State ministry of health and human services  have finally broken their  one month silence on a devastating cholera outbreak that has claimed at least 37 lives and left over 3,000 residents infected across the state.

The Humanitarian Times had  last week led in publishing a news report about the devastating epidemics that had at that time claimed 27 lives and spread across about seven local government areas affecting at least  2700 persons. The report came after  weeks of unexplained silence by the Borno state ministry of health even as several messages by our reporter to the commissioner of health, Professor  Baba Mallam Gana, seeking to understand why his ministry was foot-dragging on declaring an outbreak, were not acknowledged. 

​While state health authorities still remain largely quiet on the cholera infection surge and the need to make official declaration, the government’s response has now shifted to active containment measures, starting with high-level field assessments by local government officials.

On Saturday, local news sources reported that the Chairman of the Maiduguri Metropolitan Council (MMC), Hon. Ali Umar Bolori, led a delegation of local council members  to affected communities in the state capital to conduct a firsthand assessment of the epidemic’s toll.

A Crisis by the Numbers

Though the health ministry is still keeping mum on official pronouncement, the gravity of the situation was only laid bare in an advisory issued over the weekend by the Executive Secretary of the Borno State Contributory Healthcare Management Agency (BOSCHMA), Dr. Saleh Abba Kaza.

Dr. Kaza, confirmed The Humanitarian Times earlier report that “the first incident was reported on May 1st,” with confirmation of the outbreak following on May 4th. Since then, the disease has cut a swathe through 36 wards across seven local government areas, affecting over 138 communities.

• Total Deaths: 37
• ​Total Infections: Over 3,000
• ​Case Fatality Rate: 1%
• ​Hardest Hit Areas: Maiduguri Metropolitan Council (over 2,000 cases) and Jere (over 1,000 cases).
• Other Affected LGAs: Mafa, Konduga, Monguno, Ngala, and Magumeri.

The data indicates a harrowing trajectory, with health officials recording more than 100 new cases within the last 24 hours alone.

Health Infrastructure Overwhelmed

​Despite the severity of the outbreak, the State Ministry of Health has yet to formally announce the establishment of a state-wide emergency response task force or brief the media directly. However, Dr. Kaza’s advisory admitted that the sheer volume of patients has stretched the state’s healthcare facilities to their limit.

​”The current situation has overwhelmed our health infrastructure, and immediate collective action is essential to combat the spread of this illness,” Dr. Kaza stated.

The government has identified the contamination of pipe-borne water and dams, coupled with the onset of the rainy season, as primary drivers of the contagion. Officials warned that flooding and runoff from areas where open defecation is practiced are actively spreading the pathogen into residential zones.

Emergency Directives

​In the wake of the crisis, the state has issued a string of urgent safety directives to the public:

• ​WASH Compliance: Residents are mandated to chlorinate water sources, manage solid waste strictly, and enforce rigorous handwashing protocols.
• ​Professional Treatment: Authorities strongly warned against home-based treatments by unqualified individuals.
• ​Hotline Access: For immediate evacuation to treatment centers, the government has directed the public to call the Borno Emergency Ambulance hotline: 08000000033.
• ​Vaccination Outlook: Dr. Kaza noted that the Ministry of Health is working to procure cholera vaccines as quickly as possible, though he cautioned that vaccines are not a substitute for proper Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) practices.

As residents in Maiduguri and surrounding LGAs await further intervention from the Ministry of Health, the local government officials ’s field visits remains for now the only government public response to the epidemic as stakeholders from the non-governmental sector continue to provide services to curtail the wild fire spread even as they lack the authority to make official declaration that could save many lives.