Worried by the devastating effect of outbreak of cerebrospinal meningitis, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, Tuesday summoned an emergency meeting with northern governors with a view to find lasting solution to the deadly scourge.
The Sultan, who led traditional rulers of northern extraction, resolved to employed political leadership to end the scourge of meningitis which has ravaged some parts of the region.
Speaking during the emergency meeting which was held at Sir Kashim Ibrahim Government House Kaduna on Tuesday, the Sultan said the royal fathers were determined to assist in tackling the menace of meningitis which has caused serious havoc in some communities in the region.
Represented by the Emir of Zazzau, Alh Shehu Idris, Sultan Saad disclosed that so far about 16 states in the country were hit by the disease, even as he commended efforts by the federal and state governments to combat the disease.
In his own remarks, the host governor, Nasir el-rufai of Kaduna state said the northwest zone has been battling with this meningitis epidemic for the past two months.
“It is a new type of meningitis that our health care professionals are not conversant with- it is type C meningitis,” he said.
He said “in Kaduna state, we have 17 suspected cases across the 11 local governments with one type C case and one death.”
“We have instituted measures, alongside the measures instituted by neighbouring states and with the proactive steps we have taken, we hope the epidemic will not occur in Kaduna state.
“We have intensified surveillance and engaged in mass media enlightenment, while mobilising appropriate medicines and medical supplies in our hospitals across the state,” he added.
Also speaking Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto state revealed, “we had cases in about seven local governments. We had over 1000 cases reported and the state government had to mobilize with traditional leaders in the state and other stakeholders, particularly our development partners.”
“We had collaboration with the federal ministry of health, we received over 20,000 vaccines from the federal ministry of health and we are expecting about 800,000 more vaccines, our target is to have 2 million vaccines for vaccinations to cover most of the areas,” he added.
