said the North Eastern Co-ordinator, Malam Nuhu Alhassan, made the observation at a meeting with stakeholders in Kaduna on Tuesday.It said the high rate of infection and fatality of the diseases were due to illiteracy, ignorance, poor state of personal and environmental hygiene on the part of the people. ``Other causes are over crowding and absence of community-based early detection of the diseases,'' it said.According to the statement, communicable diseases constitute the major cause of emergency problems in the Northern zones of the country, causing several deaths every year. ``In view of the recent reports of the presence of these diseases in the zones, NEMA has intensified its awareness creation to mitigate further spread of the diseases,'' it added.Alhassan in the statement enjoined health providers in the three tiers of government to join the awareness creation to ensure that the campaigngot to the grassroots. ``We urge the local health maintenance and evaluation officers to be vigilant and ensure the continuous surveillance of the area for immediate response to any detection.``We also urge the local communities, especially in the frontline states where the out break of the diseases have been reported to be vigilant and report any outbreak to the relevant authorities,'' it stated.