Nigeria: Poor surveillance helps spread cholera

Poor diagnostics and weak surveillance are hampering government efforts to stem cholera in Nigeria says a government health worker. The disease is most severe in the north; as of 8 September 781 people have died and 13,000 cases were reported. Onyebuchi Chukwu, Nigeria's health minister, said Katsina State in northern Nigeria had the highest number of cases - 3,310 infections and 175 deaths. Isa Sadiq Abubakar, a consultant epidemiologist at Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital in the northern city of Kano, noted that northern Nigeria had good cholera surveillance systems but they were not being used properly. Nigeria uses an Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response system, set up a decade ago to more effectively combat communicable diseases - such as yellow fever, meningitis and cholera - by training and equipping health staff to improve disease detection and response. "But staff training has been slow to deliver, and most health centers still lack the necessary equipment to accurately diagnose cholera," Abubakar noted.