From Mika’il Tsoho, Dutse
The Director General of Kano State Primary Healthcare Management Board Dr Muhammad Nasir Mahmud, said about 520 children are suspected to have died as a result of the Diphtheria outbreak in the state in this year of 2023.
Dr. Mahmoud stated this while speaking to newsmen at a one-day media orientation on Diphtheria outbreak, supported by UNICEF held in Kano.
“There is data we generated through our digit Surveillance and reporting system. This year Kano reported about 8,700 suspected cases of Diphtheria and 6,300 confirmed, with about 520 children suspected to have died of this illness.
“We tracked this on a daily and weekly basis, we believe the cases are much more than what we are getting, as we witness the increase of the cases from July”, he said.
The DG added that the cases were reported from 39 local governments out of 44 local governments in the state, while the cases worsened within the eight metropolitan local governments.
The DG who described Diphtheria as a threat to child survival, health and the well-being of children; said, UNICEF is collaborating with the government and partners to respond to the emergency to save the lives of the children affected.
According to him, this week, UNICEF delivered 1.2 million vaccines to the Kano State government in our continuing support to the government for response to the Diphtheria outbreaks.
While making his remarks, the Chief of the UNICEF Field Office, Kano Mr. Rahama R. Mohammed Farah, said, about 60.8 per cent of total suspected cases of Diphtheria diseases are from unimmunized children.
Mr. Farah who emphasizes the importance of routine immunization as well as the danger related to the issue of zero doses, said majority of suspected victims of Diphtheria are children who did not receive a single dose of vaccination against the children’s killer diseases including diphtheria.
“So far, the highest number of cases of Diphtheria are reported from Kano state, for example, out of the 44 LGAs of Kano state, the Diphtheria disease has spread to 39 LGAs.
“Since Jan 2023 Kano state reported over 5,800 cumulative cases of Diphtheria in the state, Although, there was a decline in the reported case in June, however, as of July these Diphtheria cases have been on the rise. As of last week, over 400 suspected cases with 11 deaths have been reported in Kano state”, he said.
According to him, eight LGAs are the most affected: They are Ungogo (2651), Dala (989), Fagge (943), Gwale (714), Kumbotso (713), Nassarawa (538), Kano Municipal (506) and Tarauni (269).
He said, that in Kano UNICEF support covers a wide range of interventions including in the following are supported the Td Tetanus-Diphtheria reactive vaccination campaigns in Feb, April and in Aug 2023. So far 3 rounds have been conducted, 23,200 children were vaccinated in round one, 277,796 children were vaccinated in round 2 and 29,500 children were vaccinated in round three.