Mrs Grace Adesola, Director, Health Education and Promotion Board, Lagos State Primary Health Care Board, on Thursday advised residents to take preventive measures against cholera seriously.

Adesola gave the advise in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the sidelines of the inauguration of Standing Committee on sensitization of Cholera in Ikorodu, Lagos.

She said the disease was basically caused by what we eat and inject into our body systems.

Adesola urged residents to ensure that their source of water was safe for drinking.

According to her, some of the preventive measures would include: ensuring safe drinking water by boiling, chlorinating safe bottle water, maintaining proper sanitation, and safely disposing of faeces.

Others are to stop open defecation, practice personal hygiene by washing hands with soap regularly, ensure food safety by preparing, cooking, and storing food against flys, and avoid raw fruits except when washed by safe water.

"If all these are put in place, cholera outbreak will be curtailed in Lagos State," she said.

Adesola said that the board had intensified its surveillance and notification officers to go into communities to know the immediate causes of the disease and people affected, to match records gathered from hospitals and healthcare centres.

"After going through reports from our general hospitals and health centres, we have to intensify our officers' efforts to go into the communities to know if more people are affected and the immediate causes.

"So far, we have recorded some deaths; while some are recovering, others have been discharged from the hospitals.

"We still want to inform residents of Lagos State that cholera outbreak is real," she added.

According to her, 12 out of 20 local governments are already affected in various communities.

She added that only four cases have been treated at the General Hospital in Ikorodu, with no deaths recorded.

Adesola said that the ministry had leveraged various stages of sensitisation to inform the public about the disease and how to curb its outbreak. (NAN)