By Nasir Shuaibu
A non-governmental organisation under the auspices of Muslim Aid Initiative Nigeria (MAIN) has expressed its concern over the rate of Meningitis in the Bauchi State as 123 cases were reported recently.
The organisation called for a renewed approach to end the spread of the disease especially among underage children in the state.
The Executive Director, Chindo Sodangi made the call while speaking at a one-day sensitisation training for 20 selected participants for creating awareness on the danger of Meningitis against children in the state.
He noted that just "between March to October 2023 last year Nigeria has recorded over 1,742 of meningitis cases and stands at being one of the highest risk areas for meningitis.
He said that between October 2023 to October 2024 Bauchi has reported over 123 suspected cases.
According to Sodangi, the World Health Organisations has set aside every 5th of October to celebrate meningitis day and Bauchi was not left out "we intended to celebrate on 5th as the world celebrated all over, but due to issues we decided to hold it today.
The ED said the training is paramount as Nigeria is one of the African bench country which experienced frequent outbreak of meningitis, that's why the organisation under Confederation of Meningitis Organizations "CoMO embark on the training with a view to equip the participants with the necessary skills and to teach people on how to prevent against the disease. As well as through the use of social media handles to create more awareness on the disease.
On her part, the MAIN programme coordinator Margaret Samuel said the ultimate goal was to create awareness on a major disease and killer disease that's very fatal which is known as meningitis and how it affects the people especially children.
She explained some preventive majors such as vaccination which are very preventable and are being accessed at all facilities within both rural and urban areas across the 20 local governments and are free of charge. Adding that if the people can get the vaccine they would be safe.
Some of the participants interviewed Usman Lawan and Khadija Nuhu assured to impact the knowledge gained at the training dawn to their various communities to help in mitigating the spread of the disease.
They equally thanked the MAIN for giving them the opportunity to be part of the crusade towards creating awareness on the danger of meningitis in the state.
The theme of the this year in Bauchi was tagged: "Depeating Meningitis Using Multiple Channel", "Finding Ways In Other To Create Awareness For Meningitis”
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