EU ALLOCATES €1 MILLION TO FIGHT DIPHTHERIA OUTBREAK 21-11-23
By Sadiq Aminu In response to the unprecedented diphtheria outbreak in Nigeria, the European Union has released €1,000,000 (N847 million) in humanitarian funding to fight the spread of the disease and assist the most affected communities.
A statement by the EU delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS explains that the allocation comes in addition to €150,000 which the EU allocated to the Disaster Response Emergency Fund of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies IFRC in March 2023 in an effort to help control the epidemic.
It states that the new EU funding will enable UNICEF and the medical NGO ALIMA to contribute to the response by providing technical and staff support to frontline health agencies to enhance surveillance and case detection, treatment of cases, community awareness raising, and to assist with the procurement of vaccines.
The statement explains that Nigeria is currently facing the world’s second largest diphtheria outbreak with 10,322 confirmed and 16,616 suspected cases since the beginning of the year.
Kano State in the Northwest represents the outbreak’s epicentre with 8,447 confirmed cases and 589 deaths.
The most affected states are Kano, Yobe, Katsina, Borno, Bauchi, and Kaduna which collectively account for 96% of all suspected cases.
The funding is part of the EU’s Epidemics tool, created to provide rapid funding in case of a disease outbreak.