Bukola Afeni
The National Primary Health Care Development Agency(NPHCDA) said 6 states are responsible for 97% of Diphtheria cases in Nigeria.
The Executive Director of the agency, Dr Faisal Shuaib stated this at a media briefing in Abuja.
He said the 6 states are comprised of Kano, Yobe, Katsina, Borno, Kaduna and Bauchi states.
“Kano state alone carries the weight of over 84% of these cases, making it the epicentre of the outbreak. The burden falls disproportionately on our young, with over 73% of cases occurring in children aged 1 to 14 years, he said.
He added that only about 18% of those affected had received any vaccinations.
The Executive Director commended the Federal Government for safeguarding the health of Nigerians through vaccination.
“This is our most formidable weapon. We have two vaccines at our disposal: the Pentavalent vaccine, administered to children aged 6 weeks to 4 years, and the Tetanus-diphtheria (Td) vaccine, provided to children aged above 4 years to 14 years.
” We have launched rapid and comprehensive vaccination campaigns across the affected regions.
We expanded our response to include Kaduna, Katsina, Bauchi, and Yobe in our Phase One response.
“The states engaged, trained, and executed vaccination campaigns in 25 high-burden LGAs within their borders with the commencement of reactive vaccination in August 2023. Borno State also conducted reactive vaccination exercises in four LGAs during the same period”, he said.
The Director General of NCDC, Dr. Ifedayo Adetifa, said die to the recent rising cases of diphtheria in Nigeria, the Coordinating Minister for Health and Social Welfare set up the task force on the 14th of September.
” The task force is meant to optimise response efforts, as well as ensure optimal collaboration among relevant
health stakeholders in the fight against diphtheria.
” Last week the national diphtheria taskforce 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.
The DG disclosed that the most effective protection against Diphtheria is vaccination with the Pentavalent or TD vaccine.
“The Federal Government of Nigeria provides free, safe and effective vaccines at all Primary Healthcare Centers nationwide. We invite the public to take advantage of the ongoing vaccination occurring in all states.
“Parents and caregivers, in the states where the vaccination campaign is ongoing, are kindly advised to take their children aged 0 — 14 years, to the nearest Government health facility to get vaccinated”, Adetifa said.
