At least five persons have died of a cholera outbreak at an Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp in Biu town, southern area of Borno State, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said Saturday.
A statement by the agency’s Northeast Zone Maiduguri Office, signed by the zonal information officer, Abdulkadir Ibrahim, attributed the fatalities to cholera.
The camp comprised residents rendered homeless by various Boko Haram attacks. The militants rendered over 15,000 people homeless following attacks on Damboa, Chibok and other communities in southern Borno. Many of them fled to such places as Biu, as well as to as Gombe and Gujba in Yobe state. NEMA immediately established camps for the IDPs.
The agency said in the statement it has activated its Search And Rescue Epidemic Response (SAREEP), its epidemic response plan, at the camp in partnership with Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders and other stakeholders to address the challenges pose by the outbreak.
“Additional staff from the Agency and doctors from Medicin Sans Frontiers (MSF) have been dispatched to help the Red Cross officials and other stakeholders at the camp clinics,” the statement said. “MSF has also donated some drugs and disinfectants to complement the drugs already provided by the NEMA and other donors. Additional pit latrine and a clinic have been erected in the camp to de-congest the existing facilities.”
