Gov. Buni Commends WHO on Assorted Meningitis Medical Intervention
From Sani Gazas Chinade, Damaturu
Governor, Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State has commended the World Health Organisation (WHO) for handing over assorted medical consumables to the state government to control Cerebrospinal Meningitis (CSM) and Diphtheria outbreaks in the state atlarge.
Buni who was represented by the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Lawan Gana revealed the consignment will complement the efforts of the state government in providing better healthcare for the residents of the state.
“As a reliable partner to the state, these assorted medical consumables donated by the World Health Organization (WHO) will support the state in controlling the outbreaks (Meningitis and Diphtheria). We have been working together with the World Health Organization (WHO) right from the beginning when we established the Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) in Potiskum, which is the current epicenter of the Meningitis outbreak respectively.”
“According to him, they will continue to work closely to contain the outbreak and with this donation of items, it will further enable the health care workers to protect themselves and the patients they are providing services to,”
Earlier while handing over the items at Yobe State University Teaching Hospital Damaturu on behalf of Dr. Kumshida Yakubu Balami, the World Health Organization (WHO) Interim Northeast Emergency Manager, Pharmacist Katugwa Emmanuel, said, the items will not only provide care for the healthcare workers but patients as well as their relatives.
“As you are aware, Yobe state is bedeviled with multiple outbreaks of diseases from last year to the beginning of this year. We started responding fully to the Diphtheria outbreak and by the grace of God, we are containing it but suddenly we had this cerebrospinal meningitis outbreak which started in February of this year 2024”.
“We are seeing a different trend of meningitis that is type ‘C’ in our routine immunization vaccine which we give children under two years. This presentation hopefully we expect that our healthcare workers, patients, and their relatives will all be protected to contain the outbreaks to its barest minimum.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) as the lead agency in international health response is supporting the State Government to provide on-the-job mentoring, and capacity building to healthcare workers and coordinate partners to ensure effective response across the hotspot Local Government Areas (LGAs). Additionally, the organization is strengthening pillars such as the Surveillance pillar to ensure early reporting and investigation, the Case Management/IPC/Laboratory pillar, the Risk Communication and Community Engagement pillar, and the Vaccine and Logistics pillar respectively.
