By Ndahi Marama

Maiduguri—Medecins Sans Frontieres, MSF, also known as Doctors Without Borders, an international medical humanitarian organisation, has scaled up efforts to prevent further spread and deaths from cholera in Maiduguri metropolis of Borno State.

The adopted preventive and treatment measures, according to MSF, include establishment of Cholera Treatment Unit, CTU, and Oral Rehydration Points, ORP, at Dala, and the Muna Internally-Displaced Persons, IDPs, camp on Dikwa Road.

Cholera: Children collect stagnant water for use at home in Harare Photo: AP

This was disclosed by the Project Coordinator of MSF, Anne-Cecile Niard, in a statement issued in Maiduguri, yesterday.

Niard said MSF was working in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and other organisations to respond to outbreaks and diagnosis of cholera in Maiduguri metropolis.

The statement read: “We have already established a 40-bed Cholera Treatment Unit, CTU, in Dala, which has so far admitted 70 patients.

“MSF has also set up an Oral Rehydration Point, ORP, in Muna camp and has a team of 14 Community Health Workers, CHW, who are helping to find new cases and trace community members who may have come into contact with affected patients.

“Most of the cholera patients come from Muna Garage, a camp for people who fled other parts of the state due to the ongoing Boko Haram crisis.”

Niard attributed the outbreak of cholera to downpour in the last three days, adding that this led to the flooding of the Muna Garage IDPs’ camp.

Her words: “The camp is partly flooded, making the already poor sanitary conditions at the camp even worse, which is an additional risk factor during a cholera outbreak.

“A potential case has also now been reported from another part of the city.”

“We set up a CTU in Dala earlier this year in anticipation of a potential outbreak. Since last weekend, we have witnessed a steady increase in the number of patients at our treatment centre and at the re-hydration point in Muna camp.

‘’We are in the process of expanding the capacity of our treatment centre in Dala to 50 beds and are exploring the possibility of opening another treatment centre close to the most affected areas,’’ she said.

Naird was, however, worried that the number of beds currently planned might not be enough to cope at the peak of outbreaks.

“MSF is also setting up re-hydration points in places where new cases are being reported and is sharing its medical expertise by training state health workers and those from the World Health Organisation, WHO, in prevention and control methods,” she said.

She assured that Maiduguri residents needed not panic, but take adequate precautions against contracting cholera from contaminated water sources for domestic and industrial uses.

“With early diagnosis and treatment, people have a very good chance of survival; already 37 patients have been discharged from our treatment centre in Dala.

“If people are worried that they have cholera, they should drink oral rehydration solution and seek treatment as quickly as possible,’’ Niard.