A. Situation analysis
Description of the disaster
Since the 2010 cholera epidemic which recorded 41,787 cases and 1,716 deaths, Nigeria has experienced recurrent outbreaks of cholera. In 2014, according to the Cholera Regional Platform, Nigeria was the most affected country by cholera in west and central Africa – with 35,996 cases reported, which represented 39 per cent of all cases in the region. The outbreak in Nigeria spread to neighbouring countries, specifically Chad, Cameroon and Niger. In early 2015, 13 of 36 states recorded cholera cases, with Anambra, Kano, Rivers and Ebonyi states being the worst affected. By the end of April 2015, 2,108 cases had been reported, with 97 deaths with the CFR rate rising to 4.76%, causing extreme concern.
On 6 March, 2015, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) released CHF 174,228 from the Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) to support the Nigerian Red Cross Society (NRCS) respond to the needs of the affected population. The DREF operation was intended to support 15,000 people (3,000 households) in Anambra, Kano and Rivers states, with health and care, water, sanitation and hygiene promotion activities; over a period of three months. Following initial assessments, Kano state was removed from the DREF operation, as it was confirmed that there were no cases at the time of the assessment and the state Ministry of Health (MoH) indicated that they did not require any preparedness or response assistance; as such it was replaced with Ebonyi state, where an increase in cases had been reported.
In addition, the DREF operation also coincided with the Presidential and Governorship elections (on 28 March 2015), which had had implications on mobilization of volunteers for training due to security concerns, and thus caused delayed implementation of the planned activities. In “Week 12” of the DREF operation, also identified that the epidemic had continued to spread with sporadic cases being reported, making it difficult to control. On 11 June 2015 an Operations Update was issued to extend the timeframe of the DREF operation by two months (New end date: 6 August 2015) to enable the completion of the activities planned in the Emergency Plan of Action (EPoA) and intensify awareness raising given the continuation of the outbreak. An additional CHF 26,566 was allocated (total allocation:
CHF 200,794) to support the extension of the activities planned.
Emergency Plan of Action Preliminary Final Report Nigeria: Cholera The major donors and partners of the DREF include: the Red Cross Societies and governments of Australia, Austria,
Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the USA, as well as DG ECHO, the UK Department for International Development (DFID) the Medtronic and Zurich Foundations and other corporate and private donors. The Nigerian Red Cross Society would like to extend many thanks to all partners for their generous contributions.
Please note that this Preliminary Report is issued in advance of the Final Report, which is expected to be issued by the end of December 2015 following the reconciliation of an overspend (refer to “Budget” section).