FILE PHOTO: A community health worker adds chlorine to water while internally displaced people gather to fill their buckets at the water point in Muna Garage IDP camp in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria October 23, 2022. REUTERS/Christophe Van Der Perre/File Photo
ABUJA (Reuters) -A cholera outbreak in Bukkuyum district of Zamfara state, northwest Nigeria, has claimed at least eight lives and infected over 200 people across 11 communities, residents and local officials said on Thursday, as limited healthcare access and insecurity exacerbate the crisis.
Cholera, a water-borne disease, is not uncommon in Nigeria where health officials cite widespread shortages of clean water in rural areas and urban slums.
The affected rural communities, including Nasarawa-Burkullu, Gurusu, and Adabka, have been overwhelmed, with many patients treated at home due to the lack of primary healthcare facilities.
"We have over 21 patients presently admitted, although three died due to delays in reaching Nasarawa General Hospital," Muhammad Jibci, village head of Gurusu told Reuters by phone late on Thursday.
Ya'u Umar, another resident from the affected communities, said 53 people were infected in his village. "We don't have medicine or drips. Bandits prevent us from going to the city," he said.
Zamfara is the epicentre of attacks by armed men, known locally as bandits, where rising violence in recent months have made travel and farming dangerous. Gangs routinely abduct villagers and travelers for ransom and extort farming communities.
Sulaiman Abubakar Gumi, a federal lawmaker, called for urgent action from the Zamfara government and international NGOs. "Any delay will cost more lives, especially among women and children," he said, urging the deployment of emergency response teams, and cholera treatment centres.
Zamfara health authorities have yet to issue an official statement on the outbreak.
(Reporting by Ahmed Kingimi in Maiduguri; writing by Elisha Bala-Gbogbo; Editing by Toby Chopra)
