Nigeria News

Maiduguri, 03 March 2017 - Borno state in northeast Nigeria has recorded its first Lassa fever outbreak in almost five decades. The last confirmed outbreak of the deadly disease was in 1969. WHO is supporting the government to contain the outbreak in an area of the country which is already coping with a humanitarian crisis resulting from years of conflict.

Abuja, 08 March 2017 - Over the years, the Polio Eradication Initiative has been a vehicle for the empowerment of Nigerian women economically and socially. In recent times, this positive development has gained more impact with the timely and direct disbursement of funds for payment of vaccination personnel allowances down to grassroots level.

Maiduguri, 15 March 2017 - An estimated 400,000 children in the northeast, Nigeria are currently suffering from Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) because of the ongoing humanitarian crisis. Severe acute malnutrition is a life threatening condition requiring urgent treatment. Without proper treatment, one in every five of those children -75, 000 could die.

Abuja, 24 March 2017 - In keeping with the 2017 World Tuberculosis (TB) Day slogan of ‘Accelerating TB Case Finding and Treatment’, Nigeria is scaling up availability of GeneXpert machines country-wide in order to start reversing the country’s unflattering position of having highest burden of TB in Africa.

Maiduguri, 25 March 2017 - Regardless of the insecurity in Borno state, more than 14, 000 volunteers are set to vaccinate 1.9 million children under 5-years old against wild poliovirus. The exercise, which is the first nationwide campaign against polio this year, will take place from 25 to 29 March 2017. WHO and partners have trained 1,817 house-to-house, 410 fixed posts and 362 transit teams in addition to 150 health camps across 206 wards in all local government areas (LGAs) except Abadam and Marte due to insecurity. 

Abuja, 27 March 2017 - Following the reported cases of Cerebrospinal Meningitis (CSM) in four(4) local government areas (LGAs), the Niger state government  in north central Nigeria has activated one of the most robust CSM disease outbreak preparedness and responses yet. With close to 60 suspected cases so far, the state has taken major steps including the appointment Dr Mustapha Jibril, the  Commissioner for Health, to lead the state response in close coordination with the World Health Organization (WHO). 

Abuja, 30 March 2017 -Various Governors and Commissioners for Health have been fully engaged in the first National Immunization Plus Days (NIPDs) campaign in 2017 to permanently stop polio transmission in Nigeria by providing overall oversight and monitoring of activities during the round. The NIPDs implemented in all the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, officially ended on 29 March 2017.

Maiduguri, 30 March 2017- On that fateful day - 13th March 2017, mobile Hard-to-Reach (H-T-R) Team 07 was in Pela Olla community, Hauwul Local Government Area (LGA), Borno state, for its routine healthcare delivery sessions until a call came from a desperate father-to- be, Malam Mohammed whose wife, Hanatu was in labour.

It was Hanatu’s first delivery experience. The nearest health facility is located 10 kilometres away and no healthcare worker could be reached.

Abuja, 30 March 2017- States sharing border settlements with neighbouring countries of Niger, Cameroun and Benin have completed scheduled synchronized vaccinations with different levels of successes recorded during the first National Immunization Plus Days (NIPDs) in 2017 aimed at stopping polio transmission in Nigeria and ensuring non- resurgence of the virus in polio-free countries. 

Abuja, 31 March 2017 - The Government of Japan recently announced a contribution of USD 903,000 towards World Health Organization’s (WHO) Emergency Programme in the crisis-affected Northeastern region of Nigeria. The contribution will benefit approximately 400,000 women, men and children through the provision of medicines and medical equipment, integrated basic primary health care services, establishment of effective referral mechanism for severally ill patients and strengthening of health sector coordination.