Combined Health Team Returns to Zaria Community for Follow-Up on Diphtheria Outbreak

  By Abubakar Sadiq Mohd, Zaria Officials from the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, Kaduna State Primary Healthcare, and Zaria Local...

 

By Abubakar Sadiq Mohd, Zaria

Officials from the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, Kaduna State Primary Healthcare, and Zaria Local Government have returned to the Tukur-Tukur community in Zaria for a second round of immunization and follow-up on the recent diphtheria outbreak, which has claimed the lives of three children.

The Tukur-Tukur community expressed appreciation for the prompt response of the combined medical team and hoped for success in addressing the diphtheria outbreak in the area.

Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, an elder in the community and Director of Publicity and Advocacy for the Northern Elders Forum, conveyed the community's gratitude for the timely intervention in response to their distress call.

"We are relieved that the medical team has arrived to provide the necessary support and intervention," Suleiman said.

He added that the community has established a monitoring and sensitization system to ensure compliance with government health initiatives and is committed to working closely with the team to combat the outbreak.

"The community is dedicated to collaborating with the medical team to ensure the successful implementation of the immunization and disease containment efforts," Suleiman stated.

Dr. Abdullahi Sule, Health Secretary for Zaria Local Government, assured that the medical team would continue the ongoing immunization program in the community and conduct a house-to-house survey to determine the extent of the disease's spread.

He explained that diphtheria is a vaccine-preventable disease and emphasized the team's commitment to working with the community to achieve the total eradication of the disease.

Dr. Sule acknowledged that while diphtheria is a serious and highly contagious disease, the team is confident that with the community's cooperation and the collective efforts of the medical team, it can be effectively controlled and eliminated.