By Paul Effiong, Abuja
To forestall the spread of diphtheria across Nigeria, House of Representatives has called for proactive measures by the federal government to tackle the spread of the disease.
To this end, it urged the federal government, through the Federal Ministry of Health, to embark on massive diphtheria vaccination and awareness campaign across all schools to prevent further spread.
This followed a motion of urgent public importance moved during plenary yesterday by the spokesperson of the House, Akin Rotimi, as a result of the outbreak of diphtheria in Kings College, Lagos.
Speaking in defence of his motion, the lawmaker disclosed that the outbreak of the dreaded disease had resulted in many deaths, which includes a 12-year-old student, as well as the hospitalisation of other young children in Lagos.
He noted that the outbreak of diphtheria had exposed lapses in infection prevention and control measures in schools.
Meanwhile, the House mandated its Committee on Health and Basic Education to urgently engage with relevant agencies, including the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, in order to assess and enhance emergency response measures in schools.
The lawmakers also mandated the Committee on NCDC to immediately establish and implement a structured disease surveillance system within all unity colleges to detect and rapidly respond to infectious disease outbreaks.
