UN probes outbreak of lead poisoning in northern Nigeria

The United Nations humanitarian arm is expanding its assistance to authorities in northern Nigeria, where a large-scale outbreak of lead poisoning resulting from the backyard efforts of some locals to dig for gold has affected hundreds of children this year.

A five-member team of environmental emergency specialists arrived yesterday in Abuja, the capital, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported today.

The team will spend several weeks taking samples of soil and drinking water and analyzing them, and will also devise recommendations on how to clean up pollution from lead, mercury and copper.

OCHA has allocated $2 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), while the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) are working with local health authorities and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to treat victims of the outbreak.

A spike in lead-related illnesses and deaths emerged at the start of this year in two districts of Zamfara state in northern Nigeria. Investigations revealed that the cause was the attempts of many locals to extract gold from lead-contaminated soils in and around their houses and compounds.