Meningitis’ spread to North-east’ll be tragic – UNICEF

By AbdulRaheem Aodu
Kaduna

United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) has warned that the ongoing meningitis outbreak should not be allowed to spread to war-ravaged states like Borno and Yobe states.
It said such spread, especially to IDPs camps, where displaced persons are camped together in crowded environment, will be devastating and the outcome catastrophic.
Similarly, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has blamed the outbreak of meningitis in Zamfara state in November, last year, on lack of robust surveillance and delay in notifying the Centre for Disease Control, saying the Zamfara outbreak was avoidable and could have been curtailed with better coordination.

Addressing the Emergency Meeting of Northern Traditional Leaders Committee on Primary Health Care (PHC) Delivery and some Northern Governors on Cerebro Spinal Meningitis outbreak in the country yesterday, UNICEF County Representative, Mohammed Fall, noted that children in the North-east were already facing burden of malnutrition and other consequences of devastating conflicts in crowded environment, and letting meningitis penetrate the region would increase the burden.
“We express appreciation to the Northern Traditional Council for the long term partnership with UNICEF with regards to primary healthcare in Nigeria.

Today, Nigeria is very close to being a polio-free country; this is largely because of this partnership.
“Calling of this meeting to get your involvement in the control of the outbreak of meningitis could not have been timelier than now. Your role cannot be overemphasised, as communities listen to you, they accept your guidance, and what we need today is to ensure that the messages get to the households, through the communities, through the families.
“Meningitis is a highly communicable disease, but it can be easily controlled through very simple improved hygiene measures, understanding the mode of transmission, early health seeking behaviour can help very much to roll back this disease.

“We know that, in the North-east, children are already facing the burden of malnutrition. They are already facing all the consequences of the devastating conflicts. Now, letting meningitis penetrate this area would increase the burden, and this is why I want to take this opportunity to appeal to the Federal Ministry of Health, to appeal to all the partners for special attention to be paid to avoiding this disease spread into the North-east.”
Also in his remarks, WHO Country Representative, Wondimagegnehu Alemu, said, henceforth, Nigeria needs to spend more and invest on outbreak investigation and detection, particularly, in rolling out robust surveillance system.

He said, 500 cases of meningitis discovered sometimes last year in Zamfara would have been avoided if there was a robust surveillance system.
“We really appreciate the timely response of the federal government’s team to this outbreak. We also value the critical role of traditional leaders in promoting health, preventing diseases and encouraging compliance of people affected by the diseases. It is from that perspective I see committed leaders, officially elected, as well as traditional leaders, standing for their people.

“In the past, meningitis type A was the one that ravaged most of these areas. Since you have successfully conducted the preventive vaccination, it has now shifted. The current type C is a new one.
“It has never been known to cause this magnitude of outbreak; it used to be only sporadic cases. So, that has left us with no option than to rely on few of the tools that we have, including few number vaccines that are available at global level, through the strategy contingency plan.

“The government has applied and has received and judiciously distributed to the affected places, and the vaccination has taken place. More is coming on the way. In as much as we are happy that the surveillance work was able to pick up, the response was very good and the timely response, particularly from all levels, was commendable.
“But going forward, we believe that we need to spend more and invest on detection, outbreak investigation, particularly in rolling out robust surveillance system, robust surveillance system is required to identify initial cases that have been occurring in those areas particularly.
“A good example is the number of 500 cases accidentally discovered sometimes last year in Zamfara. That would have been avoided if there was a robust surveillance system.”

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