At least 11 people have been confirmed dead following an outbreak of diphtheria in Chachanga and Katcha local government areas of Niger State, according to health authorities.
The outbreak has also been reported in Bida and Agaie, while surveillance has been stepped up in Suleja Local Government Area as authorities seek to contain further transmission.
The Executive Director of the Niger State Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr Junaidu Inuwa, said 17 deaths had been recorded between January and early August 2026, with 124 confirmed cases and 84 patients treated and discharged.
Mr Inuwa attributed the high number of cases and deaths partly to vaccine hesitancy among parents and guardians.
“Most parents are not immunising their children, and the community structure needs to do a lot for us,” he said.
Kano seeks nine million vaccine doses
In Kano State, the Kano State Centre for Disease Control (KNCDC) has called for the immediate provision of nine million doses of diphtheria vaccines following an outbreak in communities in Rano Local Government Area.
The Director-General of the agency, Professor Muhammad Abbas, said the state was facing a significant number of children who had received no routine vaccinations, leaving them vulnerable to infectious diseases such as diphtheria.
He said more than 16,000 children in communities across Rano were classified as zero-dose children.
According to Mr Abbas, the state government had planned to procure vaccines for its 784 wards but faced restrictions from the Federal Ministry of Health.
He said the required nine million doses were necessary to strengthen the state’s response and prevent the disease from spreading further.
The KNCDC chief also raised concern over delays in seeking medical attention, saying some parents of children showing symptoms of diphtheria had failed to report to healthcare facilities and instead relied on traditional medicine and local healers.
Such delays, he warned, could lead to serious complications, including damage to vital organs.
The agency said it investigated about 39,000 suspected diphtheria cases between December 2022 and August 2026, with approximately 32,000 subsequently confirmed and 1,800 deaths recorded.
More than 55 per cent of the confirmed cases involved children who had received no vaccination, Mr Abbas said.
He added that diphtheria had been recorded in more than 27 local government areas in Kano, although the outbreak was largely under control following strengthened surveillance and response measures.
The state government, he said, had supplied medicines and other medical materials to support treatment, while reactive vaccination campaigns were being conducted in affected communities and schools whenever new cases were identified.
Cholera surveillance
Mr Abbas also disclosed that Kano had recorded 227 suspected cholera cases, six of which had so far been confirmed through laboratory testing.
He urged residents to report suspected cases promptly to the nearest healthcare facility, stressing that early diagnosis and treatment were essential to preventing deaths and limiting further transmission.
Meanwhile, the Kano State Government has established a Special Committee on Diphtheria Outbreak Response, chaired by Mr Abbas.
The committee is expected to coordinate the state’s response, carry out a comprehensive assessment of the outbreak and implement urgent measures to prevent the disease from spreading to neighbouring local government areas.
