Combined team of officials from the World Health Organisation, WHO, United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, Kaduna State Primary Healthcare, and Zaria Local Government visited Tukur-Tukur community in Zaria for a second round of immunisation and follow-up on the reported outbreak of diphtheria disease, which claimed the lives of five children.
Executive Secretary of Kaduna State Primary Health Care Board, Dr Bello Jamo, while leading a health team, which included a WHO representative, visited the community after reports of some children’s deaths.
Jamo confirmed that three children had died from the outbreak, attributing the incident to non-compliance with diphtheria vaccination during a routine exercise conducted two months ago.
Meanwhile, the community has expressed gratitude for the prompt response to their distress call.
An elder in the community and Director of Publicity and Advocacy of the Northern Elders Forum, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, stated this in a statement in Kaduna, yesterday.
“We are relieved that the medical team has arrived to provide the necessary support and intervention.
“The community has already established a monitoring and sensitisation system to ensure compliance with government’s health initiatives and we are committed to working closely with the team to combat this outbreak,” he said.
He said the medical team would continue the ongoing immunisation programme in the community and conduct house-to-house survey to ascertain the extent of the disease’s spread.
Diphtheria is a vaccine-preventable disease and the team is dedicated to working with the community to achieve its total eradication.
Suleiman added, “Diphtheria is a serious and highly contagious disease, but we are confident that with the community’s cooperation and the collective efforts of the medical team, we can effectively control and eliminate this outbreak.
“The Tukur-Tukur Community has welcomed the medical team and looks forward to a successful partnership in addressing this public health challenge.”
Suleiman expressed appreciation for the quick response from health authorities and reiterated the community’s commitment to work closely with the medical team to ensure the successful implementation of the immunisation and disease containment efforts.
