(Quick News Africa)- The Nigerian Center for Disease Control (NCDC) at the weekend issued guidelines, warning against any individual or public habits that will make people vulnerable to cholera outbreak across Nigeria in the event of imminent flood disasters facing the country.
The public health warning alert was contained in a statement issued by Boboye Onduku, who is NCDC’s technical assistant on communications.
Since the beginning of July 2017, Nigeria has experienced flooding in 16 states, resulting in injuries, deaths, and the destruction of properties.
The Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) constantly monitors the situation and issues regular flood alerts, and this year’s “Annual Flood Outlook” says about 30 states and 100 local government areas are deemed to become high flood risk areas.
Flooding is an event of public health interest due to the resultant outcomes of mortality, morbidity, displacement, loss of property and livelihood.
The latest public health safety alert NCDC became necessary following the perceived possibility of increased risk of contaminated water supply, which supports the transmission of infectious diseases and provides breeding ground for disease vectors.
To reduce the spread of infectious diseases such as cholera, dysentery, typhoid fever, poliomyelitis, as well as that of vector-borne diseases, such as malaria and yellow fever during flooding, NCDC has warned against drinking flood water or using it to wash dishes, brush teeth, wash or prepare food.
The centre also advised communities to ensure the chlorination of water from public supply source, ensure proper disposal of waste and clearing of sewage, as well as frequent washing of hands with soap and clean water.
There is further directive for people to discard all medicines, food and bottled water that may be contaminated by flood water.
In homes, NCDC says water should be well boiled before drinking, while mosquito bites, open defecation and indiscriminate refuse dumping should be avoided.
NCDC also encouraged people to ensure safe food preparation techniques and to visit health care facilities immediately after experiencing sudden fever or diarrhea, even as it urged health workers to observe universal healthcare precautions at all times.
