*Senate urges action on IDP camps, prisons, others *As death
toll rises to 336; 2,997 suspected cases in 16 states
Apprehension has gripped
Nigerians in the wake of the current outbreak of Cerebrospinal Meningitis, CSM,
in some parts of the country. Reports show that the outbreak, which has reached
epidemic proportions in the last few days, has continued to spread.
Vanguard
report continues:
According
to the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, as of April 3, 2017, a total
of 2,997 suspected cases of CSM have been reported in 16 states and 92 local
government areas, of which 146 have been laboratory-confirmed, while 336 deaths
have been recorded.
Data
from the NCDC Epi summary made available to Vanguard, showed that Zamfara State
is topping the list with 1,846 suspected cases (67 laboratory confirmed) and
216 deaths, followed by Sokoto with 662 suspected cases and 41 deaths. In
Kastina, there are 211 cases, 46 deaths, while Niger has 93 cases with 33
deaths.
Kebbi
has recorded a total of 69 cases (12 laboratory confirmed) and 11 deaths;
Abuja, five cases and five deaths; Kano 36 cases (four confirmed) and three
deaths, while Yobe recorded 51 cases and nine deaths.
In
Lagos, there were three suspected cases, none of which were laboratory confirmed
and two deaths. All the 57 local government areas, and Local Council
Development Areas, LCDAs, are on high alert.
Cases
were recorded in Osun, Cross River, Plateau, Taraba, Gombe, Nasarawa and FCT,
but none was laboratory confirmed, even though deaths were recorded.
Senate
urges action on IDP camps, prisons, others
Meanwhile,
the Senate, yesterday, asked the Federal Government to urgently provide
facilities in Prisons, Police stations, detention camps, Internally Displaced
Persons, IDPs, camps, if it must guard against the outbreak of cerebro-spinal
meningitis as well as control its spread.
The
Senate identified these locations as susceptible to the current outbreak of the
disease due to overcrowding and unhygienic nature of these places.
The
Senate also called on the Federal Government to provide vaccines in all
government hospitals to treat victims of the disease, just as it urged the
National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, Nigerian Prison Service, and the
Police, to urgently take steps to prevent infections and outbreaks in their
premises and the camps.
The
lawmakers also directed the Federal Ministry of Health and its agencies to work
closely with the World Health Organization, WHO, and UNICEF to acquire
sufficient vaccines needed to respond to the outbreak, which had so far claimed
328 lives, with over 2500 cases.
Resolutions
of the Senate were sequel to a motion by Senator Gbenga Ashafa (APC, Lagos
East) and supported by Senators Wakili Mallam Ali (Bauchi South); Olamilekan
Solomon (Lagos West); Mao Ohuabunwa (Abia North) and Olarenwaju Tejuoso (Ogun
Central).
In
a statement released by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, and
signed by its Technical Assistant Communications, Dr. Lawal Bakare, the
government that the NCDC, National Primary Healthcare Development Agency and
partners had activated an Emergency Operations Centre, EOC, to manage the
ongoing the disease.
Meningitis Punishment
From God, Gov Yari Says
Daily
Trust reports that the governor said the current outbreak of Type C
Cerebrospinal Meningitis is God’s way of punishing Nigerians for their immoral
conduct.
The
governor spoke in Hausa during an interview with State House reporters
yesterday after meeting President Muhammdu Buhari.
Zamfara
State is the most ravaged in the latest outbreak, accounting for 215 out of 336
deaths nationally.
“What
we used to know as far as meningitis is concerned is the ‘type A virus’ which
had been tackled through vaccinations by the World Health Organisation
(WHO), the governor said.
“However,
because people refused to stop their nefarious activities, God now decided to
send Type C virus, which has no vaccine.
“People
have turned away from God and He has promised that ‘if you do anyhow, you see
anyhow,’ that is just the cause of this outbreak as far as I am concerned.
“There
is no way fornication will be so rampant and God will not send a disease that
cannot be cured,” Yari stated.
“The
most important thing is for our people to know that their relationship with God
is not smooth. All they need to do is repent and everything will be all right.”
Asked
whether leaders also need to repent, he said “leaders are doing their best by
enlightening the populace and working assiduously for the good of all,” but
that they cannot go from house to house and arrest offenders.
He
said a meeting of stakeholders in the state had adopted a strategy to deal with
the outbreak.
According
to him, the five million doses of the vaccine announced by relevant organizations
against the Type
C
meningitis in Nigeria “is not enough for Zamfara people alone, not to talk of
Katsina or Kano”.
He
said Zamfara got 20,000 doses from the Federal Ministry of Health owing to the
high rate of the disease in the state.
“Our
Focus as a state now is to continue treating those who are infected with the
disease, but as for vaccination, it has an international dimension.
“We
have information that Nigeria will get the highest percentage of the 5 million
doses available now. Apart from WHO, other International bodies such as the
Bill Gates foundation and UNICEF are also currently focusing on how to tackle
the outbreak.
FG
ramps up control as death toll rises to 336
The
death toll in the current outbreak rose to 336 and suspected infections figure
is now 2,997, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) latest
report released yesterday.
Meanwhile
the Federal Government “incidence management” response was switched on
yesterday after the Emergency Operations Centre was activated on Monday.
The
switch to incidence management is to “ensure that all activities across the
country will be managed using a clear command and control structure led by an
Incident Manager who reports through the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria
Centre for Disease Control, to the Minister of Health,” the NCDC announced.
“With
this new coordinating structure, the country will have a tight, multi-partner
team of experts pulled from the most competent agencies focusing on outbreak
control in Nigeria,” Lawal Bakare, technical advisor for communications at NCDC
said.
The
central command is similar to response to Ebola viral disease outbreak in 2014,
but the command centre for meningitis will be headed by John Oladejo, head of
emergency preparedness and response at the NCDC.
Experts
from the Federal Ministry of Health, NCDC, NPHCDA, WHO, UNICEF, Africa CDC, US
CDC, Médecins Sans Frontières, AFENET, University of Maryland and E-Health
Africa will have roles on different components of the meningitis outbreak—all
coordinated in one place.
So
far, half a million doses of Meningitis C vaccines have been distributed to
affected states for immediate vaccination in response to the outbreak.
An
additional 823,970 doses of the vaccine are expected from the United Kingdom to
support vaccination in other affected states.
The
EOC will begin state-wide vaccination today in Zamfara and then move on to 15
more states.
“We
are confident that we have turned the tide, and with increasing vaccination
activities, expect a reduction in number of cases,” said Bakare.
“Importantly,
lessons learned from this outbreak will help the country prepare for the future.”
No science links
meningitis to God’s wrath—NCDC
The
Nigeria Centre for Disease Control refused Tuesday to be drawn on comments by
Zamfara state governor, Abdulaziz Yari, that the current outbreak of meningitis
serotype C was the result of divine wrath on Nigerians for turning away from
God.
But
an official said the statement was nothing scientific but just a personal
belief.
Biodun
Ogunniyi, official of the NCDC, told Daily Trust, “The NCDC is a scientific
organization, and what we need to do is look at the science and the facts.
“We
are providing vaccine. This is science and this is how science works. In the
past probably this disease was killing people and people thought there was no
solution.
“The
science of immunization is a clean science that the world has tested and tested
again. Vaccines work, and in this case vaccines are going to work again, and
Nigeria is working hard to get the appropriate doses of vaccine into the
country.”
Ogunniyi
said no link existed between fornication and meningitis, considering many
caught in the outbreak are children.
He said a better discourse should have been talk about sexual practice as it affects disease and its spread in Nigeria and Africa.
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