Ahmad Alabira, Dutse
The Jigawa State government has said over one million people were vaccinated against cholera in three selected local government areas that were badly affected in 2021.
Addressing reporters at the state Ministry of Health, the Director, state Primary Healthcare Board, Dr Kabiru Ibrahim Chamo said the three LGAs are Dutse, Birninkudu and Hadejia.
He added that in 2021, the state recorded 595 dead from 21,877 cholera cases, stressing that effort has been made by the introduction of rotavirus vaccines.
“We have vaccinated over a million people against the cholera outbreak and raised surveillance parameters and trained people on how to identify the cases of cholera in their communities.
“On the rotavirus, we have opened a vaccination register targeting one million children across the state to reduce the infant mortality rate”, he added.
He said the rotavirus vaccines prevent severe diarrhoea among the children and reduce the rates of diseases such as malaria, measles and malnutrition respectively.
“On child mortality, the state has improved by 18 percent with an estimated saving of the lives of over 200,000 children under five from dying, through routine immunisation”, he concluded.