The death toll from the outbreak of the Cerebrospinal meningitis in Nigeria now stands at 336 spanning across 16 states with five states mostly affected.
In view of this, TVC’s Kemi Balogun had a chat with a medical doctor who says the government needs to act fast and curb the spread of this disease.
This current outbreak of Cerebrospinal Meningitis in Nigeria has come with a new strand of meningitis stero type C unlike the previously known stereotype A that has been experienced over the years.
This is making it rather difficult to mobilise for a massive vaccination drive across the country because the vaccines are not commercially available at the moment
The Nigeria centre for disease control and the national primary health care development agency had earlier disclosed that the focus of the emergency response will be on the five key states with the most burden
Adewunmi Oyesakin is a Paediatric doctor at the national hospital in Abuja, she believes this outbreak could have been prevented if adequate facilities had been provided by the government
She admits that meningitis is a curable disease if discovered early enough and calls for vaccines to be made readily available
Efforts however, are still being made to ensure that there is adequate vaccination of all Nigerians especially those who are more prone to getting infected
There has been no confirmed case of the cerbro spinal meningitis at the national hospital and authorities here say, all necessary steps will be taken to ensure that all emergency cases who show the symptoms are immediately tested and treated.
Although meningitis affects mostly children due to their weak immune systems, it has been advised that everyone gets vaccinated no matter the age group.
