Outbreak Control: Diphtheria Strikes, WHO and UN Joint Forces Respond
A concerning outbreak of diphtheria, a vaccine-preventable disease, has claimed the lives of approximately five children in the Tukur-Tukur community, Zaria local government in Northern Nigeria. In response, the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Kaduna State Primary Healthcare, and Zaria Local Government have returned to the affected community for the second round of immunization.
“This prompt arrival of the combined medical team gives us a sense of relief,” says Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, Director of Publicity and Advocacy of the Northern Elders Forum, as the community celebrates the timely response to their distress call. Suleiman emphasized that Tukur-Tukur community has already set up a monitoring and sensitization system to ensure compliance with government health initiatives and is committed to working closely with the team to combat the outbreak.
The visiting medical team will continue the ongoing immunization program and conduct a house-to-house survey to ascertain the extent of the disease’s spread, underscoring that diphtheria is a vaccine-preventable disease that requires collective efforts to control and eradicate.
“This is a serious and highly contagious disease, but we are confident that with the community’s cooperation and the collective efforts of our medical team, we can effectively control and eliminate this outbreak,” Suleiman stressed, speaking on behalf of the community.
As immunization efforts continue, the community welcomes the swift response from health authorities, vowing to work closely with them to ensure the successful implementation of disease control measures.
In this challenging crisis, it is heartening to see a unified response from public health authorities and local communities to tackle diphtheria, a readily preventable disease.
