An international child rights organisation, Save the Children International, has said that 80 percent of the confirmed cases of diphtheria in Nigeria are unvaccinated.
The organisation, however, said places it visited have not recorded cases but are on high alert and well prepared to respond should this happen.
While calling for the launching of a wide-scale health response with mass vaccination campaigns across the worst-hit areas due to the recent outbreak of diphtheria disease in the country, it said that there is great preparedness from the government to tackle the disease.
Diphtheria is a vaccine-preventable disease that has largely been eradicated across the world. Although periodic outbreaks happen where large children have missed this routine vaccination.
Addressing newsmen on the need to catalyse renewed efforts towards accelerating progress on the SDGs, especially as it relates to children, in Abuja, Chief Impact Officer of the organisation, Ebrima Saidy, called for more collaboration between the governments at all levels and other relevant stakeholders to ensure that children survive, learn, and are protected to achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals in Nigeria.
“Nigeria already has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the world, and only 42 percent of children under 15 in Nigeria are fully vaccinated from diphtheria, and in this most recent outbreak, 80 percent of the confirmed cases are unvaccinated people.
“Save the Children calls for the launching of a wide-scale health response with mass vaccination campaigns across the worst hit areas and is appealing to donors to support the comprehensive response being launched by the government and humanitarian actors to support local health services to cope with the influx of diphtheria cases, procure more vaccines and to roll out a mass vaccination campaigns.
“It is important to note that while the places we visited have not recorded cases; they are on high alert and well prepared to respond should this happen, which is great preparedness from the government,” Saidy said.
