Cholera was responsible for some 1, 900 deaths in eight West African countries this year, Xinhua quoted Nigeria's Minister of Health Onyebuchi Chukwu as announcing. Chukwu made this known on Friday in Abuja at the Second Extraordinary Assembly of Health Ministers of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), adding that meningitis disease also accounted for 1,720 deaths since January 2010. He called for maximum cooperation among ECOWAS stakeholders to enhance the fight against epidemic-prone diseases, which had prevailed in the West African region. "In addition to this statistics, measles, which is a disease, placed in a test phase, is growing every year and reflecting the weakness of our health systems," the minister said. "Not only is our health system weak, there is also the inability to sustain gains achieved with the mass action through international support," he added. "In truth, epidemic-prone diseases have always prevailed in our environment and this is why we must all collaborate and ensure that the fight must be collective for it to be effective," Chukwu told his audience. According to the minister, there would be no tangible result if a country was able to prevent a disease outbreak among its citizens and its neighboring counterpart lagged behind in that regard. The epidemic-prone diseases include cholera, meningitis, measles, yellow fever, Lassa fever and polio. Chukwu urged stakeholders to hold on to the spirit of solidarity in yielding tangible benefits to the citizens of their communities. Chukwu said there was an average reduction as the maternal mortality rate had reduced at about 30 percent nationally.
