Ibrahim Muhammad
Kano State Government said over 520 children feared dead in a recent diphtheria out break in the state.
Director General Kano state Primary HealthCare management Board Dr. Muhammed Nasir Mahmoud confirmed this while speaking at a one day media orientation for media practitioner on diphtheria outbreak in Kano held on Tuesday.
He said since the outbreak of the disease in December 2022 kano state has recorded 8700 suspected cases out of which 6300 were confirmed cases.
He said out of the 44 LGAs of Kano state, the Diphtheria disease has spread to 39 LGAs with eight most affected where zero routine immunization was recorded.
According to him” only 27% children were fully vaccinated, 7.5% partly vaccinated, 59.9% not vaccinated and 5.5% unknown”
He said Kano state government with support from Federal Government and development partners are working closely to end the disease by December, 2023.
UNICEF Health Manager Dr. Serekeberehan S. Deres said the situation of children who have not received a single doses of immunization is critical, totally unacceptable and urgently need to be addressed.
According to NCDC “data shows, 60,7 per cent of confirmed cases of Diphtheria are zero-dose, meaning they have not been vaccinated at all”
He said some of the symptoms of the disease include, sore throat, difficulty in breath or rapid breathing, nasal discharge, fever and chills.
He noted that Nigeria needs to strengthen the Routine Immunization coverage to
address this challenge.
Dr Deres therefore called on the participants to be in the vanguard of sensitizing and mobilizing caregivers, government, families, communities, and everyone, on the importance of Routine Immunization.
It was reported that 80% of diphtheria cases was recorded in Kano state and out of which 60.8 are children.
