Research-Driven Action Needed to Curb Cholera Spread

Cross River State is urging health authorities to look beyond the first cholera cases and examine how infections continue moving between communities. Health Commissioner Henry Ayuk made the call during a stakeholder debriefing in Calabar on findings from a University of Calabar study.

Ayuk said the most urgent task was to understand secondary infections and determine whether existing interventions were achieving their intended results. He pointed to the strong social and transport links between inland settlements as factors that could help outbreaks spread quickly.

That makes early detection, surveillance and targeted community action central to the state’s response. Ayuk also called for sustained grassroots mobilisation and health messages delivered in local dialects, saying communication that communities understand can strengthen local ownership and encourage lasting behavioural change.

The research team, led by principal investigator Glory Nja and supervised by Mbe E. Nta, studied seasonal cholera outbreaks in seven high-risk riverine communities in Southern Etung Local Government Area. The project received funding from the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and the National Institute for Health and Care Research.

Researchers used a community-based approach that included the Ejagham dialect, targeted engagement and water, sanitation and hygiene interventions. Nja said unsafe water, poor sanitation, inadequate handwashing and open defecation remained major factors behind the persistence and spread of cholera. Ayuk called for closer cooperation between government and academic institutions to turn such findings into practical measures for rural communities.

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The most critical priority is focusing on secondary infections rather than just primary cases, and examining whether current intervention methods are serving their intended purpose.