According to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC), this year across 32 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), there have been 961 suspected cases of cerebrospinal meningitis (CSM) and 56 fatalities.
In a statement released on Thursday, Dr. Ifedayo Adetifa, Director-General of NCDC, said that due to underreporting of cases, the organization is still working with impacted states to strengthen surveillance.
He added that in order to improve readiness, identification, and response to meningitis epidemics, the center also carried out strategic prevention and control efforts.
Cerebrospinal meningitis (CSM) is an infectious disease that is prone to epidemics; instances are documented in Nigeria all year long. South of the Sahara Desert in Africa’s “Meningitis Belt,” the disease is most prevalent.
All 19 of Nigeria’s northern states, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and a few of the southern states are included in the belt.
Despite considerable advancements in monitoring, diagnostic capability, and vaccine research over the past few years, he claimed that CSM still posed a serious public health danger in many different nations throughout the world.
According to him, the NCDC joined the international community to launch the global plan to eradicate meningitis by 2030 on behalf of Nigeria.
According to him, the World Health Assembly endorsed the worldwide strategy for Defeating Meningitis by 2030 in November 2020.
Meningitis continues to be one of many frequently coexisting public health concerns in Nigeria, where alignment and local translation of this plan are especially important, he continued.
