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The United States Agency for International Development, through its Lagos Urban Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, has awarded grants worth N1.72bn to eight local organisations for interventions against the cholera outbreak.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the grants were awarded to the organisations at a two-day signing and onboarding workshop in Lagos, on Monday.
The workshop was organised to officially launch the grant activities and provide relevant orientation for the new grantees.
The initiative was to support the state government’s effort to reduce cholera transmission, promote behavioural change and prevent future outbreaks.
The PUNCH reports that Lagos battled several cholera cases earlier this year, which prompted rigorous awareness by the government and relevant stakeholders to tackle the disease.
In June, the state recorded up to 500 suspected cases as the government scrambled to contain its spread.
Nigeria was experiencing a significant cholera outbreak, with the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention reporting over 1,528 suspected cases in 31 states around June.
In October, the NCDC stated that the cholera outbreak in Nigeria saw a sharp increase in 2024, with suspected cases rising by an alarming 220 per cent.
The NCDC, on its official website, said this was according to the latest epidemiological report.
The outbreak had notably affected Lagos, Bayelsa, Zamfara, Abia, Cross River, Bauchi, Delta, Katsina, Imo, and Nasarawa states.
Meanwhile, the grants unveiled on Monday were awarded under the Capacity Building, Research, and Advocacy Fund to enhance the operational and outreach capacity of Community-Based Organisations that provide WASH services, with a focus on communities underserved by public utilities.
According to NAN, the organisations are the JAM Foundation, Equitable Health Access Initiative Nigeria, South Saharan Social Development Organisation, and Humanity Family Foundation for Peace and Development.
Others are the Women’s Right to Education Programme, Bread of Life Development Foundation, Society for Water and Sanitation, and Chamagne Foundation.
The Chief of Party and USAID contractor for LUWASH, James Racicot, urged the awardees to positively employ the grants to achieve the LUWASH objectives.
Racicot noted that through the initiative, LUWASH aimed to reduce cholera transmission, morbidity, and mortality rates in Lagos.
“We do not doubt that all of you will succeed with the proposals that you have submitted,” he said to the grantees.
He noted that the grantees were selected because they were going to help achieve the overall outputs and objectives of the LUWASH activity.
“So we urge you, the grantee, to take advantage of all the training and orientation that you will receive, because ultimately, we do not want to have issues with the management of the grants, but rather focus on the implementation and the success.
“The LUWASH Activity is very serious about engaging prominent, enthusiastic, CBOs in Lagos and Nigeria and we plan to do that over the next few years as well.
“The expectations for these organisations will feed into the LUWASH overall objectives of eradicating the cholera outbreak in Lagos State.
“So, the USAID LUWASH activity has several components, including working on the infrastructure for the water supply, governance, and support to the institutional stakeholders.
“But through the grants under contract programme, called the CAREVO fund, we are able to target specific needs that we have either seen recently or that have been on the ground for a few years,” Racicot said.
Some of the awardees reiterated their commitments to ensuring the objectives of USAID/LUWASH objectives were met.
