Nigeria reports 359 cholera deaths in first nine months of year

FILE PHOTO: Cholera outbreak hits children, displaced in northeast Nigeria

FILE PHOTO: A health worker at the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF - Doctors without Borders) Cholera Treatment Center, checks a cholera patient in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria October 18, 2022. REUTERS/Christophe Van Der Perre/File Photo

Source: REUTERS

More than 350 people have died from cholera in Nigeria in the first nine months of this year, a 239% jump from the same period last year, data from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) showed on Monday.

Cholera, a water-borne disease, is not uncommon in Nigeria where health authorities say there is a lack of potable drinking water in rural areas and urban slums.

NCDC said 359 people had died between January and September compared to 106 during the same period last year.

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The number of suspected cholera cases also surged to 10,837, up from 3,387 the previous year, with most of those affected being children under five years old.

Lagos, the country's commercial capital, recorded the highest number of cases, NCDC said.

Authorities in northeastern Borno said on Friday that a cholera outbreak had hit the state, which is also dealing with flooding that has displaced nearly 2 million people.

This article was produced by Reuters news agency. It has not been edited by Global South World.

By Reuters