Prof. Ali Pate, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare in Nigeria, has announced the government’s plan to use vaccines to control the ongoing diphtheria outbreak.
He emphasized that 98% of the children affected by the disease had not been immunized.
The government aims to aggressively combat the diphtheria outbreak in collaboration with state governments and development partners. Diphtheria is a vaccine-preventable disease, and the government is determined to halt its spread across the 19 northern states.
Pate pointed out that if children had been vaccinated, they would not have contracted diphtheria. To address this public health concern, an emergency task force led by the Executive Director of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA) and the Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has been established.
Traditional leaders, who play a vital role in educating and informing their communities, are seen as instrumental in controlling the diphtheria outbreak. Pate appealed to these leaders to encourage their subjects to accept the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine, emphasizing its safety and effectiveness.
The rollout of the HPV vaccine is scheduled to begin on October 24, 2023, with the aim of preventing cervical cancer among adolescent girls in Nigeria. The government is committed to strengthening its vaccination efforts to protect public health and prevent vaccine-preventable diseases.
Dr. Faisal Shuaib, the Executive Director of NPHCDA, called on traditional leaders to collaborate with their State Primary Health Care Development Agencies (SPHCDAs) and educational authorities to ensure the successful introduction of the HPV vaccine. They are urged to use traditional platforms to provide accurate and essential information about these vaccines to their communities.
