The death toll from the Cerebro Spinal Meningitis, CSM, outbreak across several states has increased to 336, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control has said.
Several states, mainly in northern Nigeria, have been affected by the disease as officials struggle to secure enough vaccines to prevent it.
“As at April 3, 2017, a total of 2,997 suspected cases of CSM have been reported in 16 States in Nigeria, of which 146 have been laboratory-confirmed. Unfortunately, 336 deaths have also been recorded,” Lawal Bakare, a spokesperson of the NCDC said in a statement on Tuesday.
This brings the national response into an Incidence Management System, IMS, to ensure that all activities across the country will be managed using a clear command and control structure, he said.
The spokesperson said that with this new coordinating structure, the country will have a tight, multi-partner team of experts pulled from the most competent agencies focusing on outbreak control in Nigeria.
He said that the head of emergency preparedness and response at the NCDC, John Oladejo, would act as the Incident Manager of the response team.
Mr. Bakare noted that the Incident Manager would report through the Chief Executive Officer of the NCDC to the Minister of Health.
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