Meningitis: Zamfara residents scramble for vaccination
Residents of Zamfara State have been scrambling for vaccination following the outbreak of meningitis in the state.
Daily Trust observed a large number of residents lined up for the vaccination at the designated centres.
An adult who wished to remain anonymous told Daily Trust that the outbreak instilled panic in the minds of the residents because of the number of deaths recorded.
“I was told that the vaccination is for people from 1 to 29 years old. I will clock 40 years this year but I went for the vaccination because I can’t afford to miss it. I asked my wife to as a matter of urgency take our four kids to the vaccination centres,” he said.
Another resident, Rashida Zubairu said fear gripped her after one of her neighbour’s daughters died from the disease.
“My husband instructed me to take our children to the center for the vaccination. I arrived here about 30 minutes ago and I won’t go home until we are all vaccinated,” she added.
Daily Trust findings revealed that the residents were panicking because of the fast spread of the epidemic to towns and villages in the state.
Meanwhile, about 346 people have died while 3,145 have been infected since the outbreak of meningitis in the state, Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Abdullahi Muhammad Shinkafi revealed.
Shinkafi who chairman of is also the the state’s A researcher, Uzal Umar has called for better approaches by government and other stakeholders in preventing and curtailing meningitis outbreak in the country.
Umar who is also a lecturer in the Department of Microbiology, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi in an interview with Daily Trust, said Cerebrospinal Meningitis was among the vaccine preventable diseases (VPD) adding that the fact that the country has lost over 400 people to the disease in this modern age was a sad reminder of how much needed to be done to make Nigeria a developed country. Committee on Monitoring, Prevention, Control and Sensitization said about 279,000 residents were vaccinated with Gora ward having 19,874 vaccinated residents.
A few weeks ago, the death recorded was 215 and infected persons was 1,800.
Shinkafi explained that 379 types of medicinal items were purchased and disbursed to all designated centres across the state adding that his committee has so far spent N21 million on the medicines. He called on residents not to panic as the war against the scourge was being won.
“Nineteen wards out 147 wards in the state have received vaccination. The vaccines are coming and we are determined
He said: “It is heartening to note the reactive response of the government towards curtailing the spread of the infection. Reports have it that 500,000 doses of vaccine against Neisseria meningitidis Serogroup C (The strain causing the present meningitis outbreak) have been imported from India and Britain. Yes this is a stop gap measure and may be successful in curtailing the spread of the germ and resulting death in the short run. But what happens in the long run?”
The researcher said that even in ideal situations vaccine developed against a particular strain has recorded failures and vaccine deployment was to make it reach every nook and cranny of the state. All the 14 local governments were given N6m each as part of the quick response strategy. This is apart from N52m given to our committee,” he said.
He advised residents to immediately report any side effects they have after the vaccination to the nearest medical facility to them, adding that about 2,000 health personnel have been deployed to the health centres.
The state Commissioner for Health, Alhaji Sulaiman Gummi warned relatives of infected persons receiving treatment in the hospitals to desist from coming in to direct contact with victims as the disease is contagious. required to cover a certain percentage of the population to be effective saying he does not aim to elaborate on records of vaccine failure but to point out that vaccine development is a dynamic event.
He said it was time for the country to do the needful to prevent future occurrences. According to him, Nigeria urgently requires detailed and robust experimental data in the following areas:
-The search of immunogen that would elicit antibody that would provide protection against a broad serogroup/serotypes of the meningococci.
-The development of
He urged the residents not to hesitate in rushing to the hospital on seeing any symptoms, adding that timely admission and treatment of the patients would help a lot in saving lives.
An assessment carried out by Save the Children, an international nongovernmental organization has revealed that 97% of meningitis victims in Zamfara State were women.
The Area Operations Manager (AOM) of the organization in the state, Mr. Kennedy Yibin disclosed this at a one day stakeholders round table on women and girls empowerment and health outcomes and indices in the state.
Mr.Yibin said the organization conjugate vaccine as is applied in pneumonia caused by Streptococcuspneumoniae.
Investigating strains dynamics that may arise from the use of vaccines– this will require detailed molecular investigation and characterization of invasive and noninvasive strains of N. meningitidis prevalent in Nigeria.
He said a new strain causing outbreak can only come from existing strains or introduced from elsewhere.
“It is also important to look at host impact that may have influenced the outbreak by the new strain. All these will require some intensive scientific research, especially at the molecular level, came about the percentage after going round many of the meningitis isolation centres set up by the state government at various health facilities.
He attributed the development to poverty, illiteracy and poor accessibility to healthcare services.
He said that if there was change of attitude at the family level which he described as the “baseline” and without any cost, the woman would realize her potentials and how to take better care of her family particularly her children.
Yibin explained that the meningitis scourge would not have ravaged the state like it did if women were empowered and their potentials developed to an appreciable level. that will keep us ahead of the evolving population of the causal organism.
“Information generated can be subjected to mathematical modeling of spread as impacted by season , host age , rate of mutation within a serogroup in the years to come so as to fully understand , simulate , analyze the progression of infectious disease and to know whether an epidemic could occur with a strain or not,” said Umar.
This may serve as a template for understudying bacteria involved in epidemic outbreaks and that were vaccine preventable, as well as putting science to work for us, he added.