The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC says Nigeria has been recording low Meningitis casualties in the last few years.
The National Cerebrospinal Meningitis Technical Working Group Lead, Dr. Priscilla Ibekwe, stated this at an event to mark the World Meningitis Day in Abuja.
She said that Nigeria plans to drastically reduce the rate of Meningitis in the country to less than thousand deaths.
“What has Nigeria done? We have put Meningitis into our national immunization since 2019. There’s a lot of work being done by scientists to make sure that we have vaccines. We want to reduce and bring it to the barest minimum. We want to kick out the outbreak of Meningitis. It’s not that we will no longer have Meningitis but we will no longer see bacterial meningitis in Nigeria”, Dr. Ibekwe said.
She said that the message of hand hygiene is great and can help in reduction of Meningitis.
She however warned that “one death from bacterial meningitis is a death too many”.
Access to facilities
The Head of Risk Communication, NCDC, Dr Yahaya Disu, said that there is need for stakeholders to ensure access to facilities to help prevent the disease.
He noted that persons who are affected by Meningitis suffer some forms of deformities and require special care.
He urged stakeholders to mobilise resources to assist in the fight against Meningitis.
He added that the defeating Meningitis project is about everyone coming on board.
An Advocacy campaign was held by the NCDC at Utako market to sensitize Nigerians about Meningitis.
The highest global burden for Meningitis is recorded in the Meningitis Belt of Sub-Saharan Africa and it includes twenty-six states in Nigeria.
The theme for this year is “Take Action to Defeat Meningitis”.
The World Meningitis Day is held every April 24.
Nneka Ukachukwu
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