The Federal Government has confirmed the death of 28
children following a fresh outbreak of lead poisoning in Niger
state.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the latest incident
had brought the number of deaths from lead poisoning in the
country to 191, including 139 children. A total of 420 cases
were recorded in Zamfara and Niger states, respectively.
Briefing newsmen on the latest development in Abuja, the
Minister of State for Health, Mr Fidelis Nwankwo, said that 68
fresh cases of the lead poisoning were recorded in Kawo and
Magiro villages of Rafi local government area of the state.
“Sixty eight cases have been recorded as at May 12,
2015, and 28 deaths had occurred giving the case of
fertility rate of 43 per cent,” said Nwankwo.
According to him, all the deceased were children below the
age of five and comprised 17 females and 11 males. He said
the affected children were found to have a high serum lead
level between 17 and 22 times higher than the acceptable
limits established by the World Health Organisation.
The minister, however, said that the federal government
adopted an eight-point strategy to tackle the situation upon
receipt of the report from the Niger Government. Nwankwo
listed the measures to include advocacy meetings with the
affected community leaders on the dangers of economic
activities involving mining.
“We have commenced non-specific, palliative treatment of the
sick children in Kagara hospital.
“We also commenced the process of incident command
structure to enhance coordination of the outbreak response.
“Mobilisation of health facilities in Niger and Zamfara states
to commence chelation of clinically ill children in collaboration
with relevant stakeholders.
NAN recalls that the last lead poisoning case was recorded in
Zamfara between March and June 2010, which claimed 163
lives, including 111 children. The incident recorded 355 cases
(NAN).
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