Nasarawa govt begins contact tracing after diphtheria kills four children

Following the death of four children due to diphtheria, the Nasarawa State Government has begun tracing other children who had been in touch with the deceased to offer them treatment.

Ishaya Amegwa, the State Health Educator, announced this during the State Social Mobilisation Technical Working Group meeting on Wednesday in Lafia, the state capital.

Amegwa, who revealed that the state government was partnering with the World Health Organisation, asked parents and guardians to make routine immunisations available to their children in the state to protect them from disease.

“The Nasarawa State Government, in collaboration with the World Health Organisation, has started contact tracing of children who have been affected by the disease to offer them preventable medication,” he said.

In response to the discovery of a circulating mutant poliovirus in nearby Plateau and Kaduna states, he stated that the state administration had taken extraordinary precautions to prevent an epidemic.

Advertisement

Amegwa asked members of the Technical Working Group, which included officials from the State Ministry of Education, the media, and an interfaith forum, to increase awareness creation on current health issues to modify people’s behaviours.