The house of representative has called for an urgent need to mitigate the spread of Diphtheria, a bacterial infection caused by Corynebacterium species, a major public health concern in Nigeria to save lives.

In a motion of urgent public importance moved in the floor of the house, Hon. Kwamoti Bitrus Laori revealed that an alarming 41,978 suspected cases of diphtheria was recoeded from Bauchi, Borno, Jigawa, Kaduna, Katsina, with Kano and Yobe States accounting for the highest numbers of 24,062 and 5,330 respectively from May 2022 to February 2025.

He said most cases were children aged 1-14, and only 19.7% were fully vaccinated, resulting in 1,279 deaths within this period.

Our correspondent Nathan Williams reports that Hon. Laori warned that if nothing is done, the high case fatality rate could worsen and spread outside of the states already impacted, underscoring the urgency of improving on the low vaccination rates, ineffective antitoxins and treatments, and delays in clinical detection and test confirmation that fuel this outbreak.

In its resolve, the house ha tasked the Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation to raise public awareness through sensitization campaigns regarding the dangers, symptoms, and transmission modes of diphtheria to prevent further spread and fatalities; mandated the House Committee on Health and Health Institutions to assess the level of compliance with the mandatory Diphtheria immunization, the capacity of health institutions to effectively respond to current threat of Diphtheria spread across the country and report back within four weeks for further legislative action.

READ ANOTHER STORY HERE: https://classic94.fm/all-kebbi-senators-dump-pdp-for-apc/