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….. Debunks outbreak of meningitis
From Linus Oota, Lafia
About 15 people, most of them children, have died between January to April 2017, during the latest measles outbreak that hit Nasarawa State.
Commissioner for Health, Dr. Daniel Iya, who stated this, on Wednesday, in Lafia, also debunked insinuations in some quarters that the ongoing outbreaks of meningitis in some states in the north has affected the state.
He explained that the state has step up its sensitisation campaign against the outbreak across the state by advising the people to avoid crowded places, sleeps in only ventilated rooms among others.
Iya further explained that the state was putting serious measures in place to ensure that the required drugs were available in all the health facilities across the state to avoid the outbreak of meningitis in the state.
He added that sensitisation and adequate communication using the media in local languages of the people remained the key to avoiding the outbreaks of meningitis.
On the outbreak of the measles, Dr. Iya explained that they had high level of coverage of routine immunisation during the period under review and wondered why death cases were still recorded in areas that immunisation was carried out.
He suspected the challenges of core chain and information documentation, adding that his office would go back to the drawing board with a view of ascertaining how the outbreak comes about.
He added that routine immunisation and sensitisation remained the key to eradicating this outbreak, adding that the state government was doing everything humanly possible to contain the situation.
