Jigawa vaccinates 1 million people against cholera

The Jigawa State Ministry of Health said it has vaccinated over a million people against cholera in three local government areas of the state.

The local government areas – Dutse, Birnin Kudu and Hadejia – were worst hit by the disease’s outbreak last year.

The Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Salisu Mua’zu disclosed this during a press briefing Wednesday.

The official said unlike the previous year when the state recorded 595 deaths from 21,877 cholera cases, the state has intensified vaccination with the introduction of rotavirus vaccines.

He said to prevent the high mortality rate recorded from the disease last year, his ministry has set up a response mechanism to reduce the number of deaths from the disease in 2022.

“We have vaccinated over a million people against cholera outbreak, raised surveillance parameters and trained people on how to identify the cases of cholera. As a result of this, the state is yet to record a case,” he said.

On rotavirus, the official said they have opened a vaccination register targeting one million children across the state, to reduce infant mortality rate in the state.

He said the rotavirus vaccine is a vaccine used to protect against infections and viruses, which are the leading causes of death among children.

The official said severe diarrhoea among children under five is caused by rotavirus, hence, the vaccines prevent severe diarrhoea among children, as well as decreases the rate of diseases such as malaria, measles and malnutrition-related diseases among the children.

Mr Mua’zu said the infant and maternal mortality rates in the state have reduced by 18 per cent, in the recent survey in 2021, compared to 2016.

Maternal mortality in Jigawa is 174 deaths per 100,000 live births.

He said on child mortality, the state has improved by 18 per cent with an estimated saving of lives of over 200,000 children under five through routine immunisations against killer diseases.