The Federal Government has confirmed the death of 27
children in a fresh outbreak of lead poisoning from illegal
mining in Niger State.
The Minister of State for Health, Fidelis Nwankwo, stated this
during a press briefing on Wednesday in Abuja. He said 63
cases of the outbreak had been confirmed by the government
in the state while many animals in affected communities had
died.
He said there is palpable fear among neighbouring
communities in Kaduna State. However, he said the disease is
not contagious.
The communities affected are Shikira, Magiro Ward and Kawo,
all in Rafi Local Government, according to the Director of Port
Health in the ministry, Dr. Nasir Sani-Gwarzo, who led the
Federal Government’s team to the areas.
Gwarzo emphasized that the outbreak was deadlier than the
one which broke out in Zamfara in 2011, in which 400 people
were killed.
According to him, the public should not have excessive fear
over the outbreak but should instead take all precautionary
measures against its spread.
On his part, Nwankwo said the Ministry of Health received
report of the outbreak on May 7 and immediately swung into
action.
He said, “The lead poisoning was confirmed and it is
confirmed that most of the people affected are children below
the age of five years. The affected children were found to have
high serum lead levels of between 171.5 – 224ug Pb/dl
(normal is less than 10ug Pb/dl). That means, 17-22 times
higher than the acceptable limits, as established by the World
Health Organization.
“The rapid assessment by the NCDC/FMOH/MMSD revealed
that as at May 12, 2015, 65 cases and 27 deaths had
occurred, giving a case fatality rate of 43 percent. All the 27
cases were children below the age of five made up of 17
females and 11 males.
“Additionally, the finding revealed a serious impact on our
livestock with cows, goats and chickens most affected. The
devastating impact of this outbreak is associated with new
mining sites which were found to contain more leaded ores
which are often brought home for crushing and processing.”
He listed efforts made by the government to include advocacy
meeting with community leaders in the state, including
sensitization of communities in the state.
Nwankwo explained further that the government had
commenced the process of establishing incident command
structure to enhance routine coordination of the outbreak
response.
Besides, the minister said government was already mobilizing
health facilities in Nigeria and Zamfara State to commence
action.
He ordered that all laws affecting mining in the country should
be respected while illegal mining should stop in the state.