Kano Requests Additional Diphtheria Vaccines Amid Outbreak

The Kano State Government has appealed to the Federal Government to provide additional diphtheria vaccines to enable the state to conduct mass vaccination across the 44 local government areas. The Director-General of the Kano State Centre for Disease Control, Prof. Muhammad Abbas, made the request during a news conference on Tuesday night following reports of a diphtheria outbreak in Rano and other areas. The state government’s appeal came after the Kano State House of Assembly raised concerns over the reported deaths of more than 50 children in Rano Local Government Area. Abbas also urged parents to report suspected cases early to health facilities to ensure prompt treatment and intervention.

Abbas said the state had recorded more than 38,000 suspected diphtheria cases since 2022, with over 31,000 confirmed, adding that more than 55 per cent of the confirmed cases involved children who had never received any vaccination. He said surveillance and notification officers had been deployed across all 44 local government areas to improve disease monitoring and reporting. According to him, the state health authorities were investigating the reported deaths in Rano through field assessments and verbal autopsies to establish their actual causes. The Kano State House of Assembly had earlier urged Governor Abba Yusuf to urgently intervene following the reported outbreak and deaths in the area.

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