At least 50 children killed in diphtheria outbreak in northwest Nigeria

At least 50 children have been killed and several others hospitalized in an outbreak of diphtheria in Nigeria's northwestern state of Kano, the state legislature said Tuesday, calling for swift emergency measures to assist affected communities.



The Kano State House of Assembly called on the government to invoke the state's Health Protection Law to contain the outbreak and directed its committee on health to engage relevant authorities on the public health issue affecting several local government areas.



Ibrahim Muhammad, a state lawmaker representing Rano, one of the affected local government areas, said during plenary on Tuesday that the outbreak was particularly severe in Ridin and Sabuwar Kaura communities, where most of the deaths were reported.



He said limited emergency measures had been taken so far, including the provision of medication and deployment of health workers, but more needed to be done to contain the disease.