Yobe vaccinates 400,000 against meningitis
Yobe State Government has launched a full scale campaign against Cerebral Spinal Meningitis (CSM) to contain the spread of the disease which broke out since December 2023.
A total of 2,510 cases have been recorded as of last week, the Commissioner for Health, Dr Muhammed Gana said in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Damaturu on Thursday.
“Unfortunately, 85 deaths have occurred largely due to late reporting or failure to report to health facilities as all,” he added.
According to him, the government has vaccinated over 400,000 people against type ‘C’ meningitis using a polyvalent vaccine provided by the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency.
Gana also said an emergency operations center was established in Potiskum, the epicenter of the outbreak, to enhance response time, while the Yobe State Specialist Hospital, Potiskum has been provided adequate drugs and ad hoc staff, including a professor of infectious diseases, to manage the cases.
He added that over 200 community health influencers, promoters, and supporters were working across Potiskum and Fika local government areas to contain the outbreak.
”Additionally, 78 active case search teams are going house-to-house to find cases and refer them to health facilities,” the commissioner said, and added that a team of 130 personnel from the World Health Organization, over 1,000 volunteer community-mobilisers from UNICEF, and 1,800 voluntary informants are supporting to stabilise the situation.
“The aim is to basically identify cases, report to the local government areas and refer them to nearest health facilities.”
