Diphtheria: Group bemoans poor funding, vaccination in Nigeria

An international human rights organisation, Save the Children, on Friday bemoaned the shortage of vaccines to address the 7,202 cases of diphtheria in Nigeria.

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The organisation said its emergency health unit would deploy expert health and supply chain staff members to help over-stretched clinics to detect and treat diphtheria cases and to support mass vaccination campaigns across the worst-hit areas.

Diphtheria, a highly contagious bacterial infection that could be fatal without treatment, was confirmed in Nigeria with an increase in cases, especially among children.

The Interim Country Director of Save the Children for Nigeria, Faton Krasniqi, said, “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. 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”, he added.

PUNCH/Wumi