Olushola Omogbehin
Following the death of about 50 children from diphtheria outbreak in Rano Local Government Area of Kano state, the State Government has called on the Federal Government to supply additional diphtheria vaccines to allow it to conduct mass vaccination against the disease.
This was disclosed by the Director-General, Kano Centre for Disease Control, Prof Muhammad Abbas, while addressing a news conference on Tuesday after the reported outbreak of diphtheria in Rano and some other local government areas of Kano State.
“Kano State has even written to the Federal Government to get more and more vaccines so that we vaccinate our people,” the KNCDC DG said.
Appealing to parents to ensure early reporting of diphtheria and other cases to health facilities for early treatment, he said:
“We are appealing to parents to please report early. Early presentation to healthcare facilities is what saves. And even if not medical conditions, all conditions, including social, if they are long and complicated, taking care of them is always difficult.
“So, please go to the healthcare facility near you. If the cases are epidemic-prone, they will alert us. It is really disheartening that we will have cases that are up to 50 that have not been reported to the hospital.
“We want to appeal to people: come to the clinics, come to the hospital. If the hospitals feel these cases are greater than what they can handle, they will refer them to us, and we will do the needful,” he said.
Speaking further, he said the beginning of the administration of Governor Abba Yusuf, KNCDC had been on top of the diphtheria situation since the
“I want to tell you that we had over 38,000 cases from 2022 till date, out of which over 31,000 cases were confirmed. But the disheartening thing is that more than 55 per cent of those are what we call zero-dose children who have not received any form of vaccination.
“More than 16 per cent of the cases and another 10 to 15 per cent of them were partially immunised. Only a few of them were fully immunised, which means we have a very big deal in our hands.
“As I am speaking to you now, my team is in Rano. They want to dig out. Sometimes, certain deaths may be due to other diseases. In that situation, we carry out what we call verbal autopsy. We interview the parents and see what happened, what led to the death of these children,” he said.
The state Assembly has also adopted a resolution urging immediate government intervention and tasked its health committee with the state Health Ministry to ensure emergency measures are implemented in the affected areas.
Diphtheria is a highly contagious bacterial infection that cause severe illness and death, particularly among unvaccinated children.
Nigeria’s Centre for Disease Control and Prevention advises parents to ensure children receive the recommended three doses of the pentavalent vaccine, which protects against diphtheria, at 6, 10 and 14 weeks of age.
Nigeria has witnessed recurring diphtheria outbreaks in recent years, with Kano among the states hardest hit. The World Health Organization said Kano accounted for the majority of suspected cases during a major nationwide outbreak in 2023.
The latest deaths underscore ongoing challenges in vaccination coverage, disease surveillance and access to timely treatment as Nigerian authorities work to contain diphtheria outbreaks.
