From Femi Oyelola, Kaduna
Save the Children International (SCI) in collaboration with local authorities, is launching a wide-scale health response in the three most impacted states of Kano, Yobe, and Katsina by Diphtheria
The Interim Country Director for SCI Nigeria, Faton Krasniqi, stated this in a statement made available to the media in Kaduna yesterday.
The Statement said that Save the Children’s Emergency Health Unit is deploying expert health and supply chain staff to help over-stretched clinics detect and treat diphtheria cases and to support mass vaccination campaigns across the worst-hit areas.
SCI, however, warned that a mass vaccination campaign will only be successful if the vaccine shortage is urgently dealt with.
The statement added that severe shortages in Nigeria of the required vaccine and the antitoxin needed to treat the disease mean the situation could continue to escalate placing many children at risk of severe illness and death, said the child rights organisation.
“The entire humanitarian community is alert to the crisis here. We are coordinating closely together and working alongside the Nigerian Ministry of Health to ensure we reach everyone who needs treatment and to contain the spread of the disease.
“Diphtheria can be fatal in more than 10% of cases, but this can increase in places like overcrowded displacement camps or informal settlements in the cities, where families have limited access to health services or where health facilities are overwhelmed.
“The response to this outbreak requires an urgent injection of funding and a large supply of vaccines to ensure we can contain it, and to save children’s lives.”
“Save the Children is calling on donors to support the comprehensive response being launched by the government, UN, and aid agencies to support local health services to cope with the influx of diphtheria cases, procure more vaccines, and roll out a mass vaccination campaign.
“Save the Children has been working in Nigeria since 2001, providing food, clean water, nutrition and protection services, sexual and reproductive health care, and education to families across the country.
“Save the Children is also providing technical support to the government on policy changes and reforms, especially in critical sectors such as health, education, and social protection, among others.
“Save the Children’s Emergency Health Unit will work side-by-side with local health workers to ensure they have the skills and equipment needed to detect and treat diphtheria cases and to conduct contract tracing and community education to help reduce the spread of the disease.
“The unit is also on standby to support mass vaccination campaigns when vaccine supplies become available.
“The Emergency Health Unit has years of experience responding to and containing disease outbreaks, including Ebola, cholera, COVID-19, and measles. The unit was last in Nigeria in 2022 responding to a cholera outbreak. “
