The Muslim Congress (TMC) has urged government at all levels to ensure constant training of health personnel, to improve detection, control and prevention of communicable diseases.
These efforts, TMC said, “will ensure that we will not only prevent the diseases, but also stop the sufferings caused by it and the heavy burden it places on the society.”
At the quarterly State of the Nation briefing in its Jibowu, Lagos headquarters, the congress National Amir (President), Dr Luqman AbdurRaheem, lamented that some parts of the nation are being ravaged by meningitis in a way that is unprecedented. According to him, “about 90 local governments in 16 states are affected at the moment. If care is not taken, the contagious disease that has already claimed over 400 lives and affected several thousands of people might spread to other states.”
He said: “Nigeria needs a lot of work to do in ensuring that it is prepared at all times to pro-actively anticipate and respond to the health challenges that may face us as a people. The fact that we have had cases of outbreak of meningitis before now is the more reason we must always be prepared even as we know that the season for this disease is between December and June. What preparation was carried out in terms of creating awareness for the people on how they could avoid or comport themselves during this period? What monitoring of the people especially in the most susceptible areas was carried out? What was the response of state and federal health agencies in nipping the disease in the bud the moment it first broke out in November 2016? These are the questions that the authorities must answer in order for us to know the state of preparedness of our health system.”
Dr AbdurRaheem said government must put in place an efficient and effective strategy for combating infectious diseases and preventing those that are likely to emerge tomorrow.
“We must use surveillance and response coupled with applied research into the nature of these diseases. We must also build critical healthcare infrastructure and constant training of health personnel.
“The rewards of a strong and flexible public health system will be seen in the way it responds to known diseases and the unexpected ones. The Federal Ministry of Health cannot act in isolation but must collaborate with state and local government health authorities, professional societies, universities, research institutes and health-care providers. International co-operation must also be sought with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and many other related international organizations,” he said.
He enjoined Nigerians to form pressure groups that will make governments see the need to vote more money for healthcare, saying “our healthcare facilities and personnel are inadequate and as such do not possess the ability for tracking and responding quickly to outbreaks of contagious diseases. The media is also complicit in the neglect of our healthcare infrastructure because these are not well-reported in the media with such intensity as would prick the conscience of our politicians and public officials. The question that must linger in our minds is how many more people would need to die before the right things are done.”
Tag: meningitis
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Meningitis: Muslim congress seeks training for health personnel
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Meningitis: UNICEF, Borno State government in partner
As part of their commitment to children’s health and wellness, United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, in conjunction with the Borno state government have come together as a measure to quell any possible outbreak of meningitis in the state.
The Chief of Maiduguri Field Office of UNICEF Geoffrey Ijumba told journalist in Maiduguri on Sunday that UNICEF apart from being an active member of the State Task Force on Meningitis has also has supported the state to preposition over 7,000 doses of Ceftriaxone (drug for treating meningitis A) in health facilities in the state; and has placed order for more of the drug.
Mr. Ijumba also reiterated the fact that there is not reported case or cases of any outbreak of the disease in the state.
According to Mr. Ijumba, UNICEF is also supporting Borno state in vaccine management by ensuring adequate storage, supply and distribution of the Meningitis A vaccines currently available in the state; and is ready to support the state with adequate storage and management of Meningitis C vaccines anytime available in the state.
“UNICEF is currently working closely with the World Health Organization (WHO) and other partners to train health workers in over 100 health facilities and 42 internally displaced persons’ (IDPs) camp clinics on the accurate diagnosis and effective management of cases, using the national protocols,” Ijumba informed.
He further disclosed that UNICEF is supporting with community awareness and sensitization as well as taking the lead in the development of communication materials and jingles for airing on radio and TV; including the deployment of no fewer than 2,000 volunteer community mobilisers in communities for mobilization and surveillance.
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Expectations for the week
Finally, the Big Brother Naija show came to an exciting end yesterday after reaching its peak; Efe Ejeba, a graduate of Economics who hails from Delta state emerged victorious after securing 57% of the total number of votes casted by fans.
To give you a quick recap, earlier in the program yesterday, Marvis, DebbieRise and Tboss were evicted making Bisola and Efe as the last two standing housemates; eventually, Efe was announced winner. The implication of his meteoric rise to fame means that he gets a cash prize of 25,000,000 naira and an SUV.
The breakdown of the votes are: Efe (2,502,494), Bisola (704,072), DebbieRise (109,659), while Marvis and Tboss got 57,341 and 683,802 respectively.
With these numbers of votes, the housemates won’t be the only ones smiling to the bank, the organizers too must be making so much ‘mazuma’ and wishing they can put this up twice in a year.
After performing many tasks and taking part in this entertaining show, people are hopeful that these individuals will go ahead to blossom in their chosen careers like former Big Brother housemates, Karen Igho, Ebuka Uchendu and Tayo Faniran after now.
The health crisis ravaging the country seems to be on the increase, over 420 Nigerians have been reported dead as a result of Meningitis. However, the glimmer of light for us all is that a solution is underway.
In a hilarious slant, the Zamfara State governor added comic spice to the already tense situation when he declared that God was “punishing” his people with the disease.
Many Nigerians including the Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi urged the state governor not to bring God into the picture but rather look for pragmatic solutions to assuage the health crisis that has overtaken his state. In a reprisal response, Yari reiterated his earlier comment, stating that his people have stopped living the life pleasing to God and He was using this medium to punish the people.
Hopefully, natural solutions and “spiritual” ones too will be gotten quickly so that this very deadly disease will become a thing of the past. Already, the federal government has commenced vaccination in Zamfara which happens to be the most affected state after recording over 200 deaths to this scourge.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has discovered monies whose owners haven’t showed up to claim them in recent times. They have also been able to get suspects arrested but they have not been able to properly prosecute their cases in court. Judging from very recent examples, the anti-graft agency needs to beef-up its prosecution process to ensure that they are not labeled ‘toothless dog’ by the public.
President Buhari has equally called upon them to properly dig deeper into issues before dragging suspects to court.
Mfm fc of Agege has moved back to the top of the Nigeria Professional Football League after trouncing El-Kanemi warriors of Maduguri 3-0 in Lagos at the weekend. With goals from wonderboy Sikiru Olatunbosun, goal king Stephen Odey and Austine Ogunye, the “Olukoya boys” now go top of the log with 33 points followed closely by Plateau United who have a game in hand.
In an ugly incident over the weekend in the league, fans of Kano Pillars attacked the Akwa United team after losing the home game. Hopefully, proper punishment will be meted out to the club to serve as deterrent to others by the organizers of the league. Also, the organizing body has to ensure they bring the league back on television after two weeks of non-availability of league football live for all to see.
Segun Odunayo tweets from @Segun_Odunayo
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No meningitis case in Lagos, says commissioner
There is no case of meningitis in Lagos State, Commissioner for Health Dr Jide Idris said yesterday.
Reacting to the claim of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) that two persons have died of the disease in the state, Idris described the report as “false and misleading”, adding that it can create “unnecessary panic among residents”.
The commissioner said: “The report carried by some newspapers and online platforms is untrue and does not represent the reality of the situation in Lagos State as at today.
For the avoidance of doubt, there are two main types of meningitis. The epidemic prone meningitis which is referred to as Cerebro-spinal meningitis (CSM) is caused by a bacteria called Neisseria Meningitis and its occurrence is seasonal or cyclical depending on the level of herd immunity and climatic conditions.
“The second type of meningitis is Non-Epidemic Meningitis. This type of meningitis is usually caused by a virus or other bacteria, but not by Neisseria Meningitis. The Non-epidemic meningitis occurs without any seasonal pattern or periodicity.”
He said the two deaths from the suspected nine cases of meningitis at Massey Street Children Hospital reported by the Disease Surveillance Notification Officer at Lagos Island Local Government in Week 13 of this year were not confirmed to be caused by CSM.
The nine cases, he said, presented with clinical features of meningitis, but laboratory tests proved that they were either due to Haemophilus influenza or Streptococcus pneumoniae and not Neisseria meningitis.
His ministry, the commissioner said, was also notified last week of a three-year-old boy presenting clinically as meningitis at a registered private facility in Lagos but the laboratory investigations did not confirm CSM.
“The blood culture yielded no growth but the urine culture yielded Klebsiella and not meningococcus. The patient is already responding to treatment. None of these cases presented with a history of recent travel to any area with an outbreak of meningitis and neither were visits from such areas recorded with the aforementioned cases,” he said.
Idris reiterated the government’s resolve to prevent and control the spread of the epidemic, urging the public to support such efforts by reporting suspected cases to public health facilities or by calling these lines: 08037170614, 08023169485.
The commissioner stressed the need for high standard of personal and environmental hygiene, such as washing of hands with soap and water frequently, avoiding direct contact with the discharges from an infected person and covering of mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing to prevent contracting the disease.
“It is strongly advised for people to avoid overcrowding in living quarters, provide cross ventilation in sleeping and work-rooms and other places where many people come together and get vaccinated with CSM vaccine when you are travelling to areas where meningitis outbreaks have been reported”, he added.
Health workers, he said, had been placed on alert on the disease and surveillance teams consisting of epidemiologists and are also intensifying their surveillance and monitoring activities.
Idris added: “Health workers are also advised to avoid close and prolonged contacts with suspected and probable cases of CSM, ensure proper disposal of respiratory and throat secretions of cases, report suspected or probable cases and observe universal precaution and make use of personal protective equipment when in contact with such cases. There is no need to panic. We will continue with our surveillance activities, constantly review our records and brief the public from time to time”.
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Meningitis: Many gyrations
One day, one story is actually a common saying in the Southeast of Nigeria. It is often deployed to describe a recurring state of anxiety or a situation in a flux. Then again, it’s another way of describing dubiety; for instance, a man who bears endless disingenuous tales concocted to deceive and defraud. So a one-day-one-tale man is not considered a good man or a serious one for that matter.
Hardball would liken frivolous tale-bearing to the matter of the meningitis scourge ravaging some states in the North of Nigeria today. Consider this first tale: the number one man in Zamfara State, Northwest Nigeria, the worst hit of all the states, Governor Abdulaziz Yari, having buried over 200 of his people apparently got thoroughly overwhelmed.
Then he comes with a tale: “God is angry with Nigeria.” Speaking to correspondents in Aso Rock, Abuja after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, he was widely quoted to have said: “People have turned away from God and he has promised that if you do anyhow, you will see anyhow, that is just the cause of this outbreak as far as I am concerned.”
Hardball grants that the sight of numerous bodies being entombed in rapid succession as if Armageddon had come would unsettle even the bravest of men. So we allow that Yari may well be under an extraneous influence. But what do we make of the Federal Government’s take on the issue?
Let us hear the Minister of State for Health, Mr. Osagie Ohanire: “In order to allay the fear of Nigerians, we want to make it clear that this is not a sign of the failing of system, it is a fact that nature played a very different stroke this time that caught everybody off guard.”
It may be true that a different strain of the germ (Type C against Type A that was prevalent) struck this time, but it is said again that excuses are the cheapest commodities in Nigeria. It is said on the street that we can dredge up enough excuses to fill any void of failure no matter how wide or deep. And do not forget that excuses come in the form of tales.
It is common knowledge that meningitis visits the North yearly during dry season, and the hotter the weather, the more likely that the disease would present. It is an opportunistic disease triggered by intense heat.
If only anyone had been proactive all these years to introduce continuous education and awareness in the meningitis belt. If anyone had been prescient enough to set up some first aid centres and rapid response capabilities.
If this year’s was an act of God, if it caught us by surprise, what tale shall we tell next year?
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Meningitis: FG sets up emergency centre
Meningitis Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) has been established by the federal government to coordinate outbreak, control and response activities to the disease. This is coming as the outbreak has claimed 438 lives nationwide.
The Minister of Health, Prof Isaac Adewole, who disclosed this, assured that the government was prepared to tackle the recent outbreak in the northern part of the country. He added that efforts have been deployed to halt the transmission, treat cases and prevent future occurrences.
In an interview with The Nation on Sunday, the minister emphasised that “Our activities are focused on three key areas including surveillance to rapidly detect and report all new cases of the disease, provide effective treatment for everyone with the disease and to rapidly vaccinate at-risk populations to prevent further spread.”
He said the ministry has deployed staff to affected states to work with state Ministries of Health and primary health care boards to search for, document and report all new cases in affected wards and LGAs. This is along with increasing the testing of suspected cases by ramping up laboratory capacity at the national level and also in many states to increase case confirmation.
Drugs are also being provided to treat new cases while 500,000 doses of the Men C vaccine have been supplied to Zamfara State which is the epicentre of the outbreak.
Explaining why over 200 casualties were recorded, he said, “A certain strain- the serogroup A – is commonly experienced. But this year, we have observed a large increase in a different serogroup that requires different control approaches, specifically a different type of vaccine to control.”
He added that other factors that contributed to the high mortality rate were delay by patients in seeking medical attention despite symptoms such as fever and neck stiffness, self-medication especially with indiscriminate use of antibiotics for feverish symptoms and shortage of appropriate Men C vaccine in the country to commence immediate reactive mass vaccination campaign at the early peak of cases.
Prof Adewole observed that “Although outbreaks due to the serotype C have occurred in the past, never has it been this widespread and caused this level of fatalities. The commoner serotype is the A type, for which we conducted a large scale campaign in 2015 to eliminate it.”
When the C serotype outbreak occurred in Zamfara State, the reserved stock of C were deployed to reduce the spread of the disease. However, as more cases developed, the World Health Organisation (WHO) was approached and it released 500,000 doses of the vaccine while the United Kingdom has given another 800,000.
On new measures the ministry is taken to ensure the outbreak is contained, he said, “The lessons learnt in the past were ploughed in current planning, thus the effective reduction of the A type. However with new lessons now, we have already begun future interventions, which will be more holistic and more robust. We are already planning to use broader based vaccines with larger number of antigens; we will also review the vaccination schedules, inter-country coordination, cross border collaboration, etc. The future should be more secured.”
He emphasised that the federal government through the ministry is working with states to ensure they are adequately prepared in outbreak cases, adding, “One of the pillars of this administration is the revitalization of the Primary Health Care system. This will ensure there are facilities and personnel available for early case detection and treatment. We are also working with traditional and religious rulers to sensitize their communities to be better aware of the disease and preventive measures.”
On what the ministry was doing to ensure such outbreaks are prevented in future, he said, “The ministry takes the work of protecting the Nigerian public very seriously. We are strengthening the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, which is the parastatal responsible for a strong surveillance system as well as designing effective disease prevention, and control mechanisms to keep Nigerians safe, strong and healthy.”
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Meningitis: Ogun puts borders on red alert
Following the outbreak of meningitis disease in some parts of the country, the Ogun State government has stepped up surveilance across the 20 Local Government Areas and the 37 Local Council Development Council Areas (LCDA) to guide against the spread of the deadly diseases into the state.
The State Commissioner for health, Dr. Babatunde Ipaye, said all borders in the state have been put on red alert. He said adequate measures have been taken by the state to curtail the outbreak of the disease, adding that medical personnel have been trained across the 20 Local Government on signs and symptoms of the disease.
“Meningitis is an acute inflammation of the protective membrains covering the brain and spinal cord and it is generally caused by infection of viruses, bacteria, fongi, parasite and certain organisms, medical workers have been trained across the 20 Local Government to watch out for symptoms to detect the disease while all borders in the state have been put on red alert,” Ipaye said.
Calling on members of the public to watch out for symptoms such as malaria, headache, fever and stiff neck, Ipaye said report should be quickly made to the nearest General Hospital, if any of the above symptoms persist for 3 days without cure, adding that the state Ministry of Health would also embark on massive sensitisation to further enlighten the public about the disease.
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‘No confirmed case of meningitis outbreak in Oyo’
The Oyo State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Azeez Adeduntan has dismissed the rumour of any outbreak of meningitis disease in the state. Adeduntan, was reacting to reports in some of the national dailies about an outbreak of meningitis in the state. He said there are eight suspected cases but noted that there is no laboratory test evidence to prove it is meningitis.
“The Ministry wished to affirm that four patients with symptoms of fever and neck stiffness were seen at Akinyele Local Government Area of the state. Two others were seen at General Hospital, Moniya and another two in private health facilIties. The patience from HAMDALA Hospital was subsequently referred to the University College Hospital, Ibadan,” he said.
He added that to further strengthen this suspicion of meningitis, two of these cases had recently travelled to the northern part of the country where quite a number of cases had been confirmed. He however said clinical diagnosis of samples were taken from two cases and laboratory investigation carried out revealed that no organisms in the cerebrospinal fluids of these patients.
He implored the general public to uphold the hygienic practices of regularly hand washing with soap and water, especially after changing diapers, using toilets, coughing or blowing the nose. He urged the people of the state to disregard any media report of meningitis outbreak in the state, insisting that nothing of such case has been recorded.
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Meningitis: NYSC to engage corps members in vaccination
The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in Kano state says it is ready to engage corps members across the state in vaccination against the Cerebrospinal Meningitis disease in the area.
Alhaji Ladan Baba, the NYSC State Coordinator, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Kano.
He said, “Our medical and health team is fully ready to embark on the exercise as soon it is provided with the vaccine by the Kano State Government”.
According to Baba, the plan to engage the corps members is necessary to avoid the outbreak of the disease in the state as reported in some northern states.
“We have begun to see the signs in Zamfara, Sokoto, Niger states and even in the Federal Capital Territory Abuja.”
The coordinator also scheme had engaged the medical and health team of the corps members in sensitisation to avoid the spread of meningitis.
According to Baba, the sensitisation is to inform the general public on the measures to be taken to avoid the outbreak of the disease in the state.
He urged the people to refrain from living in congested rooms but in well ventilated rooms.
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NMA urges Zamfara Govt. to change strategies in fighting meningitis
The Zamfara state chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has called on the state government to change its strategies in fighting Cerebrospinal Meningitis (CSM) outbreak to succeed in arresting the disease.
The state NMA Chairman, Dr Tijjani Abubakar, made the call on Saturday in Gusau while speaking at the Inter-Secondary School Medical Quiz Competition organised by the association to mark the 2017 World Health Day.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that 215 people have lost their lives to the disease while thousands of patients are receiving treatment at various health centres across the state.
The Chairman noted such change should be seen as a matter of urgency.
He also said the scourge of Cerebrospinal Meningitis epidemic, ravaging the state was worrisome, adding that it had reached emergency level.
Abubakar said the committee set up by the state government to fight the outbreak must involve medical personnel to ensure success.
“Government must review its strategies in fighting the disease by providing more funding to procure enough drugs and vaccines to reduce the menace of the disease in the state,” he said.
Abubakar, however, called on the members of the committee to be God-fearing in discharging their duties.
He further urged committee members not to see their assignment as an avenue for enrichment, but one that called for their total commitment toward bringing the disease to a standstill.
“On behalf of all medical doctors in Zamfara, I wish to extend our heartfelt condolences to all the parents who lost their children and loved ones to the outbreak in the state and country at large.
‘’For those that suffered from various degrees of disability, we pray for their speedy recovery.”
Abubakar also commended all stakeholders for their support and commitments in supporting the state government’s effort toward curtailing the outbreak.
He appealed to the public to always comply with pieces of medical advice given to them as regards curtailing the disease.