Sokoto State

The State Health Commissioner, Balarabe Kakale, confirmed that in Sokoto State meningitis cases are increasing, resulting in the death of 21 deaths. The death were recorded in seven local government particularly affected by this outbreak: Kebbe, Bodinga, Rabah, Wamakko, Gada, Dange/Shunj and Tureta. The state government had deployed across the 23 local governments several medical teams comprising over one hundred medical personnel and provided of free drugs and medicament. The team went around the houses in the villages, treatening around 300 cases of malaria and meningitis: out of the 330 cases, 40 were confirmed in the laboratories to be cases of meningitis, out of which 14 fatalities were recorded, but thousands of other cases were treated at the Primary Health Centres in the local governments. Some cases are imported from other states, moreover the traditional belief in witchcraft makes it difficult to fight the disease: the families refuses to take suspected patients to the hospital even with the typical meningitis symptoms: “The people of the state should disregard rumours of witchcraft and take all suspected persons to the hospitals early. Keeping them at home will only make the disease worse and cause transmission to other members of the family”.