No meningitis outbreak in Kano this year – Commissioner

Kano state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Abubakar Labaran Yusuf, has said that Kano is not expecting possible outbreak of Cerebral Spinal Meningitis (CSM) in 2014 and that 80 per cent of the people at risk had been vaccinated against the disease.
Speaking to newsmen on the World Health Day in his office, Yusuf said state government was able to effectively fight the cerebral spinal meningitis even before it could break out, adding that “it is an abiding obligation on the part of the state government to ensure robust health care delivery.”

On the outbreak of cholera which ravaged the state recently, the commissioner said efforts had been intensified to stamp it out, stressing that with the provision of safe drinkable water and sensitisation of the public cholera was almost put in check.
The commissioner maintained that the issue of primary healthcare had been accorded high priority with antenatal care freely giving to pregnant women, disclosing that the state government was sponsoring at least 500 Kano indigenes to pursue various medical courses abroad.

He added that hospitals in the state had adequately been renovated with intensive care units being created to attend to patients in emergency situations, stressing that healthcare delivery would not be taken for granted.
He counseled the people to avoid too much congestion during bed time, warning that too much congestion in a room posed the risk of contracting cerebral spinal meningitis.