The Federal Government on Wednesday, June 28, declared Nigeria free from the latest ‘type c’ deadly Cero Spinal Meningitis (CSM) which has claimed thousands of lives since the outbreak in 2016.
This was disclosed by the Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Oyewole during a chat with State House correspondents after the Federal Executive Council weekly meeting in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
Professor Oyewole noted that there has been no polio case recorded for the year 2017 while cholera outbreak in Kwara State has fizzled out.
Speaking further, the Health Minister an approval by the Council to include members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) into the National Health Insurance Scheme.
According to the Minister, the approval would guarantee the corps members access to quality healthcare and prevent unnecessary deaths in the country.
Ina similar vein, the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) has declared Nigeria free from the ‘Type C’ deadly epidemic of Cero Spinal Meningitis (CSM).
The NCDC stepped down the Emergency Operations Centre battling the outbreak after it said the most affected states have recorded much fewer new cases.
This was confirmed by the NCDC chief executive officer Chikwe Ihekweazu in a statement on Wednesday.
According to him, “In the last four weeks, no Local Government Area has reached outbreak alert threshold. While NCDC has stepped down the emergency response, the work never stops – we will continue to work 24/7 to ensure the protection of all Nigerians against infectious disease threats.”
Meanwhile, a total 14,518 suspected cases of meningitis were reported from 25 states since it began in Zamfara in December, 2016.
During the outbreak, millions were immunized in the reactive vaccination campaigns in Zamfara, Sokoto, Yobe and Katsina States while a total of 1,166 have died from the epidemic.
