Cholera outbreak: Lagos to setup health taskforce — 26th September 2016 (By Chinelo Obogo – LAGOS)

Cholera outbreak: Lagos to setup health taskforce — 26th September 2016 (By Chinelo Obogo – LAGOS) The Lagos State House of Assembly has called for a major stakeholders’ meeting to immediately address the outbreak of cholera in Isolo Local Council Development Area of Lagos. This comes on the heels of 45 people being diagnosed with the disease, with six people eventually dying. The Assembly also called for the return of sanitary health officers and inspectors in all 56 Local Governments and Local Government Development Areas (LCDAs) in the state to help address the problem of poor hygiene and sales of contaminated edibles in Lagos State. The stakeholders’ meeting, according to the lawmakers, will involve the Ministries of Health, the Environment, Information and Strategy, and Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, where stakeholders will be expected to map out ways to identify the cause of the problem with a view to forestalling a future recurrence. Key stakeholders from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development as well as all Community Development Associations (CDAs) will be also expected to be part of the meeting. The call was led by the Chairman House Committee on Health Olusegun Olulade, under the ‘Matter of Public Urgency’ during Monday’s plenary, where he drew the attention of other lawmakers to the outbreak, traced to some members of the affected community having consumed a local delicacy, popularly known as “abacha,” believed to have been contaminated by the bacteria causing the disease. Olulade said in order to avert future recurrence that it was time for the State Government to begin enlisting the services of health inspection officers from each Local Government and Local Council Development Area who would be going from one food seller to another with a view to identifying potentially contaminated food. “The outbreak of the disease with the subsequent loss of six lives is regrettable. Its cause has been attributed to the consumption of contaminated local salad by some residents. But in order to forestall a recurrence there’s the need for a stakeholders’ meeting involving relevant ministries and agencies to be held as soon as possible. There’s also the need for the State Government, through the Ministry of Information and Strategy, to commence immediate sensitisation of residents on the need to maintain good hygiene and adopt various ways to take care of their immediate environment,” he said.