The Nigerian government has confirmed 7,202 cases of diphtheria and 453 related deaths since the start of the current outbreak in December 2022.
In a statement from the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, in collaboration with the National Primary Health Care Development Agency ( NPHCDA) and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Monday, said as of September 24, 2023, “there have been 11,587 reported suspected cases out of which 7,202 were confirmed cases from 105 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in (18) States including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).”
The federal government said most (6,185) of the confirmed cases were recorded in Kano.
It said other states with cases are Yobe (640), Katsina (213), Borno (95), Kaduna (16), Jigawa (14), Bauchi (8), Lagos (8), FCT (5), Gombe (5), Osun (3), Sokoto (3), Niger (2), Cross River (1), Enugu (1), Imo (1), Nasarawa (1) and Zamfara (1).
It said the majority (73.6%) of the confirmed cases occurred among children aged 1 – 14 years with those aged 5-14 years bearing most of the brunt of the disease.
“So far, a total of 453 deaths have occurred in confirmed cases giving a case fatality rate (CFR) of 6.3%,” it said.
The statement said the Coordinating Minister of the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Muhammad Ali Pate, set up a national emergency task team co-chaired by the Executive Director of the NPHCDA and the Director General of the NCDC for higher-level coordination of outbreak response efforts following findings that 80% of confirmed cases in the ongoing outbreak are unvaccinated.
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