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Diphtheria: Six States Account For 97% Of Cases -NPHCDA
The National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) has said six states account for staggering 97 percent of all reported diphtheria cases in the country.
The agency’s Director General, Dr Faisal Shuaib,who disclosed this yesterday, at the Diphtheria Outbreak Response Press Conference, in Abuja, named the states as Kano, Yobe, Katsina, Borno, Kaduna and Bauchi.
Emphasising that the six states were bearing the brunt of the disease in the country, Dr Shuaib said Kano alone carries the weight of over 84per cent of these cases, making it the epicenter of the outbreak.
While regretting that Diphtheria, a preventable disease, has cast a dark shadow over communities, particularly impacting children who he described as “our most vulnerable citizens”, Dr Shuaib said the agency had launched rapid and comprehensive vaccination campaigns across the affected regions.
“These campaigns have been meticulously planned and executed, with a laser focus on the epicenter of the outbreak.
“Kano, as the epicenter of this outbreak, has been at the forefront of our vaccination efforts. Working with the state governments, we implemented rounds 1 and 2 of the vaccination campaign in five high-burden local government areas in February and April 2023 respectively.
“Subsequently, round 3 was integrated with routine immunisation intensification, further bolstering our response. An additional eight LGAs in Kano underwent reactive vaccination exercises in the last week of August,”he explained.
Speaking further, he said:”Today, we stand united in the face of a public health challenge that demands our unwavering attention and swift action.
“Diphtheria, a preventable disease, has cast a dark shadow over our communities, particularly impacting our most vulnerable citizens, our beloved children.
“As we confront this crisis head-on, let me share with you the vital role of vaccination in our battle against this formidable foe.
“In this ongoing outbreak, you have heard that some states have been affected, with Kano, Yobe, Katsina, Borno, Kaduna, and Bauchi bearing the brunt, accounting for a staggering 97per cent of all reported cases. Kano alone carries the weight of over 84per cent of these cases, making it the epicenter of this outbreak. The burden falls disproportionately on our young, with over 73per cent of cases occurring in children aged 1 to 14 years.
Alarmingly, only about 18% of those affected had received any vaccinations.
“As you may be aware, on the 19th of September 2023, the Honourable Coordinating Minister of the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (FMOH&SW), Prof Muhammad Ali Pate, set up a national emergency task team for higher level coordination of outbreak response efforts. This includes ensuring optimal collaboration of all relevant stakeholders such as political, religious and traditional leaders. He also requested that Governors of the affected states should promptly release counterpart funds to ensure availability of operational resources to compliment the Federal Government’s contributions.
“The cohesive response of the Federal Government, Subnational levels and Partners is a vibrant reflection of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s aspiration for Nigerians as eloquently captured in his renewed Hope agenda and his commitment to provide quality health care for all Nigerian irrespective of where they live, their ethnicity or religion. The Diphtheria outbreak response is an embodiment of this ethos.
“Vaccination has long been humanity’s armor against deadly diseases, and Diphtheria is no exception. The Federal Government recognizes the power of vaccines in safeguarding public health, and our response to this outbreak centers around the belief that vaccination is our most formidable weapon. We have two vaccines at our disposal: the Pentavalent vaccine, administered to children aged 6 weeks to 4 years, and the Tetanus-diphtheria (Td) vaccine, provided to children aged above 4 years to 14 years.”
According to him, “Beyond Kano, we expanded our response to include Kaduna, Katsina, Bauchi, and Yobe in our Phase One response. These states engaged, trained, and executed vaccination campaigns in 25 high-burden LGAs within their borders with the commencement of reactive vaccination in August 2023. Borno State also conducted reactive vaccination exercises in four LGAs during the same period.”
While saying it was crucial to note that routine vaccination continues daily at all government facilities across the nation, the NPHCDA boss explained that the “reactive vaccination exercises just serves as an additional layer of effort, a testament to the commitment of the Federal Government and our partners to curb the spread of this infection.”
He said:”For the Phase One response conducted in August, 2023, significant numbers were reached. In Kano State alone, 476,962 children received Td Vaccines, while 28,700 children received Penta vaccines. For other states, Katsina, had 313,615 children vaccinated with Penta vaccines and 421,045 with Td vaccines; Bauchi, vaccinated 162,840 children with Penta and 257,075 with Td vaccines; Kaduna, reached 174,857 children with Penta and 245,805 with Td vaccines. Yobe, vaccinated 82,601 children with Penta and 207,418 with Td vaccines. These figures do not include the daily routine vaccination efforts ongoing in these states.
“As of September 23rd, 2023, we commenced the Phase 2 Round 1 Diphtheria outbreak response in seven of the high-burden states. Yobe began on September 23rd, followed by Kano on September 30th. Bauchi, Borno, Jigawa, Kaduna, and Katsina are poised to commence on October 7th, 2023.
“Vacination is not merely about administering shots and needles; it is about building trust and fostering community engagement. We acknowledge that our vaccination success hinges on the active participation and trust of our communities. Our dedicated teams have been on the ground, tirelessly engaging communities, answering questions and addressing concerns.
“We have undertaken a comprehensive approach that includes disseminating public health advisories through media engagement and webinars, developing and distributing Diphtheria Social and Behaviour Change (SBC) materials, coordinating stakeholders’ meetings for risk communication and community engagement. Our tireless teams continue to conduct sensitization campaigns targeting health workers, opinion leaders, traditional and religious leaders, schools and community members. We are excited about the collaboration that the media has provided in order to increase awareness on the outbreak and encourage Nigerians to seek the protection of the vaccines.
“While we are firmly focused on controlling the Diphtheria outbreak, our vision extends beyond the immediate crisis. We are committed to strengthening our healthcare systems, ensuring the consistent availability of vaccines, and enhancing our capacity to respond to future outbreaks. The Federal Government continues to collaborate with Gavi, the vaccine alliance and our development partners as efforts are in full swing to expedite the procurement and delivery of more vaccines to combat this outbreak.”
The Rivers State Chief judge, Justice Simeon Chibuzor Amadi has granted pardon to six inmates standing awaiting trial at the Port Harcourt maximum correctional center.
The six lucky inmates granted pardon on Tuesday by the state Chief Judge included Nwekeala Chizoba, Samuel Emmanuel, Aniete Kelvin, Ebube Fubara and Goddey Okpara who were on awaiting trial as murder suspects and have all spent between 10 years to seven years in the custody without a proper information filed against them in the court.
Justice Amadi during a special gaol delivery exercise last Tuesday at the Port Harcourt Maximum Correctional Centre opined that the special gaol delivery was part of activities lined up to commomerate the 2024/2025 legal year in the State and restated the commitment of the state judiciary in decongesting the correctional centre and ensuring that those inmates who are not supposed to be there are removed from the custody.
The state chief judge stressed the need for all stakeholders to work together to build a society that supports rehabilitation and gives a second chance to anyone or group of people who have fallen short of the expectation of the law and have been punished accordingly.
He stressed that the National Judicial Council(NJC) encourages judges to pay more attention to criminal matters to enable them to decongests the correctional facilities, noting that since his assumption into office, his administration has been able to reduce the number of inmates in Nigerian Correctional Centres and the Port Harcourt Correctional Centre in particular, to less than 2,000 as against the over 4,000 inmates previously in the faculty.
According to him, “as they release the deserving inmates, they affirm their commitment to justice, compassion and rule of law but that they must not forget the fundamental principles of justice delivery system which is truth and fairness, integrity and equality before the law.”
I encourage you all the released inmates to return to your families and become better citizens. You must not engage in action that will return you all back to prison. Let me say that while the judges show empathy to you all, it does not absolved individuals from being held accountable for actions against individuals, corporate organisations and state which the law frowns at, ”he stated
The Chief Judge thereafter stood down the exercise to enable the DPP to intervene to case files following the fact that majority of the persons listed to benefit from the exercise are facing murder charges and adjourned to a date that will come before December.
Earlier in his goodwill message, the outgoing state Comptroller of Nigerian Correctional Centre, Port Harcourt, Felix Lawrence, who was recently promoted to the rank of Assistant Controller General, commended the state judiciary led by Chief Judge, Justice Simeon Chibuzor Amadi for their continuous effort aimed at ensuring justice and decongesting the facilities.
Other activities lined up for the event included special church service at St Paul’s Cathedral , Anglican Communion, Rebisi Port Harcourt, inspection of guard of honour by the state Chief Judge mounted by officers of the Nigerian police and a special court session held at the ceremonial court hall.
By: AkujobiAmadi
The Director General of Rivers State Bureau on Public Procurement (RBoPP), Dr. Ine Briggs, has explained that the Sir Siminalayi Fubara administration plans to enforce transparency in governance through public procurement.
Speaking at a one-day Public Procurement Enlightenment workshop organised in collaboration with the State Local Government Service Commission for newly elected chairmen, vice chairmen, secretaries and leaders of legislative assemblies, Dr. Briggs said it is key for grassroot development.
She stated that the Sir. Fubara administration plans to reduce wastage and at same time infuse efficiency in public expenditure.
The RSoPP DG said the local government political office holders remain key drivers in the new vision hence the workshop is to arm them with knowledge on how to execute projects in tandem with needs of the people.
“ Your role in the prudent management of public resources is, therefore, not just administrative it’s the cornerstone of delivering the dividends of democracy. Every procurement decision you make must reflect a commitment to fairness, transparency and accountability” Dr. Briggs submitted.
One of the key goals of the administration she further reminded the participants was to use their offices to foster economic growth through public procurement.
She warned that the law establishing the agency empowers it to penalise defaulters, but that what is more important is voluntary compliance to the laws.
In addition to that, she said urged the local government council leaders that champion the practice and implementation of public procurement law.
On his part, Acting Chairman of Local Government Service Commission, Pastor GoodLife Ben Iduoku averred that the aim of the workshop is to arm key stakeholders in the local government system to generate new ideas, innovation and strategies in tandem with government policies and programmes.
The workshop dealt on various topics on procurement planning, methods, Understanding Bid Process, including types of Construction Contracts and law.
Some participants were awarded excellence and meritorious awards as part of the programme.
By: Kevin Nengia
The 19th anniversary of the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS), Rivers State Chapter, recently ended in Port Harcourt in grand style, with participants from various schools including proprietors, the academia, civil society groups and top government functionaries charting the way forward for educational improvement.
The 19th NAPPS anniversary christened, ‘Innovation and Adaptation: Transforming Challenges Into Opportunities’ was held at Casoni Hotels, Port Harcourt.
In his remarks, the Chairman of the Rivers State Chapter of the association, Dr. Jaja Adafe Sunday expressed gratitude to the members and executives for their untiring efforts towards the achievements of the body.
He sought the intervention of government on the lingering crisis on the economy as it is affecting the running of schools.
He decried high cost of things including fuel and raw materials which has adversely affected the running of schools and payment of teachers.
Dr. Sunday hinted that the current economic situation in the nation is biting hard on the operations of schools, saying inflation, removal of fuel subsidy, fuel scarcity, poor electricity supply, tariffs and lack of government grants are some of the challenges faced by schools, and urged the members to brace up to the challenges, as it is the panacea to building a brighter future.
Guest speakers from the health sector and the academia thrilled the gathering on the essence of basic education which they said is the key to national development.
Former Dean of the Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Professor Azuru and the Chief Medical Director of Meridian Hospitals, Dr. Odo Iyke were some notable guest speakers who delivered lectures at the occasion.
Some distinguished proprietors also got special recognitions and awards.
The 19th anniversary cake was cut by the Rivers State NAPPS Chairman with representatives of the state government assisting.