Meningitis Kills 60, As Over 360 Cases Recorded In Jigawa

Over 60 people, mostly children under 11 years, have lost their lives in an outbreak of Cerebrospinal Meningitis in JigawaState.

Reports from the state indicate that there was an outbreak of the disease in the state, last month, where the case worsened in Nigeria/Niger Republic border local government areas in Jigawa.

Findings in the state revealed that several people lost their hearing as a result of the disease in the affected areas.

Investigations show that some of the villages visited with high rate of cases include Mele, Dungundun, KanyaArewa and Dantanoma villages in Babura, Gumel, Maigatari and Suletankarkar local government areas.

It was also gathered that about 100 people lost their lives across the state as over 360 cases were recorded.

In an interview, the village Head of Dungundun, MallamAlkasimYakubu said 19 people lost their lives in Dugungun village, noting that the majority of the deceased were children.

According to him, the problem started in late last April, but the outbreak worsened some weeks back while infection and death rates were high in the village.

Yakubu further explained that, over 50 cases were recorded, and that two people were affected by hearing loss.

He pointed out that, the patients were rushed to DanladinGumel health post where many were confirmed dead while some lost their lives at home.

The village Head of KanyaArewa in Babura Local Government Area, AlhajiAkiluDawaki said, meningitis killed 19 people in his domain and recorded over 70 cases.

According to him, to control the disease, they established a local isolation centre and move the patients to control the outbreak.

When contacted, the Jigawa State Epidemiologist in the Ministry of Health, MallamSamai’la Mahmud, confirmed the outbreak.

He said records available in the ministry indicated that 65 people died, 257 cases recorded in 18 out of 27 local government areas of the state.

An international donor partners, Save the Children International is providing support to Jigawa state government in response to cerebrospinal meningitis outbreak in the state.

The NGO is also supporting the training of health workers and the provision of drugs and medical consumables across 17 health facilities in the state.

They also raise awareness, improve preventive and care-seeking practices and strengthen the capacity of community structures for early preparedness and response to mitigate future outbreaks.

SCI in collaboration with state and local government stakeholders is engaging with communities across the six most-affected local government areas in the state.