Nigeria to tackle diphtheria with N75m EU gift

Nigeria would tackle Diphtheria with €150,000 (N75m) gift from the European Union.

The humanitarian fund will assist the most affected communities Kano, Katsina, Lagos and Osun states.

The Delegation of the European Union to Nigeria and the Economic Community of West African States, in a statement issued on Monday, said the allocation was in response to the significant increase in diphtheria cases recorded since the beginning of 2023 in Nigeria.

The statement recalled that on January 20, 2023, the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control and Prevention officially declared an outbreak of diphtheria in Kano and Lagos states after several suspected cases appeared a month earlier.

The disease then spread rapidly to other states. From 136 cases in the first week of 2023, the country now has a total of 733 suspected cases and 89 fatalities.

The statement said, “The EU funding will enable the Nigerian Red Cross to provide emergency assistance to reduce the impact of diphtheria on affected and at-risk communities through risk communication, outbreak control activities, surveillance, patient referral and hygiene promotion, and early case detection in affected areas.

“This funding is part of the EU’s overall contribution to the Disaster Relief Emergency Fund of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

“Humanitarian assistance will, directly and indirectly, target around 1,585,080 people, with a particular focus on vulnerable people at risk of diphtheria, those living in sheltered communities or hard-to-reach locations.”

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