More than 350 Nigerian residents have died from cholera 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.
Cases of cholera, a water-borne disease, have become frequent in Nigeria over the last few months in rural areas and urban slums have been exposed to contaminated potable water.
NCDC said 359 people had died between January and September compared to 106 during the same period last year.
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. And Lagos, the country’s commercial capital, recorded the highest number of cases, NCDC said.
Additionally, authorities in Borno State reported a cholera outbreak on Friday. The same state has been grappling with a widespread flooding that displaced nearly two million people.
Nigeria has been caught cold by multiple public health crises in recent months, partly because its health sector is not well funded. In the 2024 Federal Health Budget, the government allocated 4.47% (₦1,228,100,390,765) of its proposed spending (₦27,503,404,073,861) to health.
That is less than one-third of the 15% Abuja Declaration commitment. For context, that is N6,831 per Nigerian (assuming a population of 220 million).
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