By Edito By Editor
The Kano State Centre for Disease Control (KNCDC) has urged traditional rulers across the state to intensify community sensitisation on vaccination against diphtheria and other vaccine-preventable diseases.
The Director-General of the centre, Prof. Muhammad Adamu-Abbas, made the call on Wednesday at a meeting with district heads under the Kano Emirate Council.
Adamu-Abbas said the engagement followed the recent outbreak of diphtheria in some communities in Rano Local Government Area and the casualties recorded during the outbreak.
He urged the traditional institution to support efforts to contain the spread of the disease by mobilising residents to embrace vaccination and report suspected cases promptly.
The director-general, who highlighted the importance of vaccination, said increased vaccine uptake and early presentation of suspected cases at health facilities were critical to preventing further spread of the disease.
According to him, many of the diphtheria cases recorded in the state involved children who had not received routine immunisation or were taken to patent medicine stores and traditional healers instead of health facilities.
He also said some patients were brought to health facilities late, making treatment more difficult.
Adamu-Abbas appealed to traditional rulers to encourage residents to seek immediate medical attention whenever symptoms of illness were noticed.
He further urged the traditional leaders to caution traditional medicine practitioners and barbers against treating suspected diphtheria cases.
“Suspected patients should be referred immediately to health facilities for proper diagnosis and treatment,” he said.
Responding, the Dankadai of Kano, Dr Bashir Dankadai, assured the KNCDC of the traditional institution’s support for the campaign against diphtheria.
Dankadai said district heads (Hakimai) would engage village heads (Dagatai), who would in turn mobilise ward heads (Masu Unguwa) to sensitise residents on vaccination and early presentation at health facilities.
He added that traditional healers, particularly barbers (Wanzamai), would be cautioned against interfering with diphtheria treatment or carrying out traditional surgical interventions on suspected patients.
Dankadai reaffirmed the readiness of traditional leaders to work with the KNCDC to curb the spread of the disease across the state.
The KNCDC had earlier called for the urgent supply of nine million doses of diphtheria vaccines to support efforts to contain the outbreak.
Following concerns over the outbreak and possible spread to other communities, the Federal Ministry of Health deployed 500,000 doses of vaccines and a special task force to coordinate surveillance and response efforts in Kano and Katsina states.
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