United Nations allots $8.5mn to Niger for tackling floods, cholera & internal displacement

United Nations has disbursed funds worth US$8.5 million from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to help Niger tackle floods, a cholera outbreak, and internal displacements. The announcement was made on Tuesday by Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffith. As per a statement released by the United Nations Office for the Coordinator of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the funds will help provide healthcare, water, and sanitation, hygiene, shelter, non-food items, protection and education support to more than 7,20,000 people.

The allocated funds also include rapid assistance to more than 81,600 people, OCHA mentioned. The communities to be benefited from the fund are mostly displaced and returnees groups. The people were reportedly from Diffa, Maradi, Tahoua and Tillabéri.

The projects planned under the UN CERF will be implemented by UN Agencies, namely UNICEF, World Health Organisation (WHO), International Organisation for Migration (IOM), and UN Refugee Agency for Refugees (UNHCR).

Niger's Cholera outbreak

Since mid-August, Niger has been facing a cholera outbreak due to floods caused by heavy rains. More than 800 cases were initially recorded, most of which were from the village of Gabagoura in the capital city of Niamey. As many as 149 Cholera-related deaths have been reported so far. On August 9, the Minister of Public Health of Niger officially declared the Niger hit by the Cholera epidemic.

As per a report by OCHA, six regions, including Maradi, Zonder, Tahoua, and Dosso recorded maximum cases of Cholera. Children between 5 and 14 are the most affected age group and the overall case fatality rate is 3.3%, more than double that of COVID-19′s 1.3% case fatality rate in Nigeria, AP reported. Meanwhile, Niger also faces a resurgence of the COVID-19 delta variant cases with less than 1% of the population fully vaccinated. 

The confirmation of cholera was done by the National Reference Laboratory (CERMES) which identified Vibrio cholerae 01 Ogawa for all cases recorded between July 13 and July 26 2021 in Magaria and Damagaram Takaya in the region of Zinder as well as those registered on 06 August in the region of Maradi. As of September 18, more than 4,600 people have been affected due to the cholera outbreak since August 9 2021.

(With inputs from AP)

Image: AP