A combined team of officials from the World Health Organisation, the United Nations Children’s Fund, Kaduna State Primary Healthcare, and Zaria Local Government has returned to the Tukur-Tukur community in Zaria for a second round of immunisation and follow-up on the reported outbreak of diphtheria, which has claimed the lives of five children.
The Executive Secretary of the Kaduna State Primary Health Care Board, Dr. Bello Jamo, led a health team that included a WHO representative to visit the community following reports of multiple child deaths.
Dr. 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.
The community has expressed gratitude for the swift response to their distress call. Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, an elder in the community and Director of Publicity and Advocacy of the Northern Elders Forum, stated, “We are relieved that the medical team has arrived to provide the necessary support and intervention.”
Suleiman also emphasized the community’s proactive measures: “The community has already established a monitoring and sensitisation system to ensure compliance with government health initiatives, and we are committed to working closely with the team to combat this outbreak.”
He further mentioned that the medical team would continue the ongoing immunisation program in the community and conduct a house-to-house survey to determine 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.
Recognizing the seriousness of the situation, he said, “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.”
Suleiman expressed appreciation for the rapid response from health authorities and reiterated the community’s commitment to collaborating closely with the medical team to ensure the successful implementation of the immunisation and disease containment efforts. “The Tukur-Tukur Community has welcomed the medical team and looks forward to a successful partnership in addressing this public health challenge,” he concluded.
