The Executive Director of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Faisal Shuaib, has confirmed that 117 children have lost their lives as a result of Diphtheria, while a total of 1,796 cases of the disease have been reported in Yobe state since the outbreak of the disease.
NPHCDA Executive Director made this known during an inspection visit to the Diphtheria isolation centre in Potiskum, which is the epicentre of the disease in the state.
Apart from Kano state, Yobe state is identified as the State with the second highest cases of diphtheria across the country.
Since 2022, Yobe state has recorded over 1,796 cases of the diphtheria disease across the seventeen local Government areas.
The Executive Director of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Faisal Shuaib, who visited Potiskum isolation center, says the disease is prevalent among children under the age of five to 14 years.
The NPHCDA chief was accompanied by the Diphtheria Emergency Task Team and Yobe government primary healthcare officials to tour the isolation facilities.
Kundi Machina, the head of the state’s major healthcare agency, discusses what the state stands to gain from the visit.
According to available information 1,600 children had recovered from the disease within the period under review.
The NPHCDA assures the Yobe state Government that more vulnerable kids would be provided with vaccines to curtail the disease.
