Outrage as cholera outbreak kills 12 in Ogun

By Hannah Nathan, Warri

The Ogun state government has revealed that a cholera outbreak in the State has killed 12 persons in less than a month.

The Ogun State Ministry of Health issued a warning On September 17, regarding the cholera epidemic in the state’s Ijebu North Local Government Area.

The sickness had since extended to the local governments of Abeokuta North and Abeokuta South, with only 217 instances being reported in Ijebu North, according to the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Tomi Coker.

Out of the 246 cases that had been documented so far, she had now established that there had been 12 fatalities.

After meeting with stakeholders at the ministry in Abeokuta, Coker provided a disease update.

“Unfortunately, there have been 246 cases reported, and at least 12 deaths have occurred, giving us a fatality rate of 44.6%.

“This is slightly high for a state like ours because we are educated. And from what we found out that’s actually promoting the cholera outbreak is the fact that there’s high level of open defecation in Ogun State,” she said.

Coker warned residents to abstain from open defecation and ensure proper hygiene to eliminate the disease.

She said that open defecation had caused faecal waste to contaminate water sources.

The ministry claimed that in order to restore normalcy, the administration has started chlorinating wells in Ijebu North.