Nigeria Confirms 8,406 Cases of Diphtheria in 19 States

The federal government has revealed that 8,406 cases of Diphtheria were confirmed in 114 Local Government Areas in 19 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

It also put the number of suspected cases of Diphtheria at 13,204.

The Director General of National Primary Health Care Development Agency, (NPHCDA), Dr Faisal Shuaib, who disclosed this on Tuesday, at the Diphtheria Outbreak Response Press Conference, in Abuja, said six states accounted for 97 per cent of all reported diphtheria cases in the country.

He listed the affected states as Kano, Yobe, Katsina, Borno, Kaduna and Bauchi.

While regretting that Diphtheria, a preventable disease, was posing a major health challenge for communities, especially children who have become more vulnerable, Shuaib said the agency has launched rapid and comprehensive vaccination campaigns across the affected regions.

“These campaigns have been meticulously planned and executed, with a laser focus on the epicentre of the outbreak.

“Kano, as the epicentre of this outbreak, has been at the forefront of our vaccination efforts. Working with the state governments, we implemented rounds 1 and 2 of the vaccination campaign in five high-burden local government areas in February and April 2023 respectively.

“Subsequently, round 3 was integrated with routine immunisation intensification, further bolstering our response. An additional 8 LGAs in Kano underwent reactive vaccination exercises in the last week of August,” he explained.

Speaking further, he said: “Today, we stand united in the face of a public health challenge that demands our unwavering attention and swift action.

“Diphtheria, a preventable disease, has cast a dark shadow over our communities, particularly impacting our most vulnerable citizens, our beloved children.”

Shuaib added that the national diphtheria taskforce had been deployed National Rapid Response Teams

(NRRT) to Kano, Yobe, Katsina, Bauchi, Borno, Kaduna, Jigawa and Zamfara to support

the outbreak response in the State across all pillars.

He said for the first time in any outbreak, the government made DAT and now IV erythromycin available using its resources through the REDISSE funding and also supported by partners including World Health Organisation (WHO).

“These have resulted in significant reduction in case fatality rate from about 40 per cent during the earlier part of the outbreak when access to DAT was highly limited to about six per cent now,” he said.

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

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