At least 838 cases of Diphtheria have been recorded in 33 Local Government Areas across 8 states in Nigeria.
According to Vanguard, the Director General/CEO of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) Dr. Faisal Shuaib made this known in Abuja the nations capital at a press conference on the ongoing Diphtheria outbreak in Nigeria.
He mentioned that Cross River, Kano, Katsina, Kaduna, Lagos, Osun, Yobe, and FCT are the affected states.
He said, “As many of you may have already heard, there is concern over the outbreak of Diphtheria cases across the country. From May 2022 to July 2023, an estimated 2,455 suspected cases has been reported in 26 states.
“As of July 27, 2023, 836 of these cases have been confirmed in 33 LGAs across 8 states: Cross River, Kano, Katsina, KKaduna, Lagos, Osun, Yobe, and FCT. Tragically, 83 deaths have been reported from these confirmed cases, making vaccination against this deadly disease critically important, especially for our children”. He said.
According to him, diphtheria is totally preventable through vaccination, ” In Nigeria, pentavalent vaccines are used to protect against diphtheria and are administered to children at 6 weeks, 10 weeks, and 14 weeks of age, with additional doses being given during campaigns.”
“Despite the efforts of the Federal Government to provide safe and cost-effective vaccines, a significant number of children remain unvaccinated or partially vaccinated, compromising the country’s goal of achieving population immunity. Suboptimal vaccination coverage has been the main factor contributing to these outbreaks, with the most affected age group being those between 2-14 years,”he added.
Dr Shuaib said the NPHCDA, in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health, the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control,NCDC, states and partners was mobilizing all necessary resources to respond effectively to this outbreak.
