Doctors raise the alarm over worsening cholera outbreak in Zamfara

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has raised concern over the escalating cholera outbreak in Zamfara State, where more than 1,500 suspected cases have been recorded in health facilities it supports between mid-June and early August.

MSF’s medical coordinator in Nigeria, Dr. David Kizito, explained that the outbreak is unfolding against the backdrop of insecurity, displacement, poor sanitation, and flooding during the rainy season, which has contaminated water sources and accelerated the spread of the disease.

Cholera, long endemic in Nigeria, typically spikes between April and October and, if untreated, can kill within hours due to severe diarrhoea and vomiting.

To contain the spread, MSF has expanded water, sanitation, and hygiene interventions in hotspot areas such as Shinkafi, Zurmi, and Talata Mafara.

Working with the Zamfara State Ministry of Health and other humanitarian actors, the organisation has also helped activate a Public Health Emergency Operations Centre and set up cholera treatment centres in the affected local government areas.

Between June 16 and August 5, the Zurmi treatment centre recorded 562 suspected cases, mainly from Yambuki, Kadamusa, and Zurmi town. At Shinkafi General Hospital, about 401 cases were treated between July 11 and August 5, including patients arriving from Isa Local Government Area in neighbouring Sokoto State.

In Talata Mafara, more than 600 cases were recorded between July 1 and August 8, with additional patients from Anka and Bakura.

MSF’s head of mission in Nigeria, Dr. Ahmad Bilal, urged residents to adopt preventive measures such as boiling water before drinking, regular handwashing, avoiding open defecation, eating freshly prepared meals, and ensuring that cholera vaccinations are up to date.

The organisation also emphasised the need to establish decentralised oral rehydration points and equip primary healthcare centres to treat mild and moderate cases, noting that this would reduce complications and allow timely referral of severe cases to specialised centres in Zurmi, Shinkafi, and Talata Mafara. Dr. Kizito added that urgent vaccination campaigns are essential to stop transmission and save lives, stressing that no one should die from a preventable disease.