Nigeria has recorded more than 10,000 confirmed cases of diphtheria in 2026, although the proportion of confirmed cases resulting in death has declined considerably compared with the same period last year, the Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC), Dr Jide Idris, has disclosed.
Idris disclosed this on Friday during a press briefing on the current cholera and diphtheria outbreaks in the country, saying the continuing burden of diphtheria remained a major public health concern despite the improvement in the case fatality rate.
He said most of the confirmed diphtheria cases were concentrated in Kano, Borno and Bauchi states, with inadequate vaccination coverage remaining a major factor driving transmission.
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“The central issue is that too many children remain unvaccinated or incompletely vaccinated. Vaccine hesitancy, insecurity, hard-to-reach communities, displacement and population movement make it more difficult to reach every child who needs protection,” Idris said.
The NCDC boss stressed that diphtheria was vaccine-preventable, saying controlling transmission would require intensified vaccination and efforts to identify children who had missed their routine immunisation doses.
He said the national response was focused on strengthening vaccination coverage, rapidly identifying and managing cases, conducting reactive vaccination in affected communities and providing essential treatment and laboratory commodities.
Idris said the NCDC was coordinating the response with state governments and partners, while strengthening surveillance and laboratory capacity, supporting healthcare workers on case management and infection prevention and control, and engaging affected communities.
National Rapid Response Teams, he added, had also been deployed to affected states as the need arose to support investigation and response activities.
The NCDC DG said improved surveillance had contributed to the detection of more diphtheria cases in states where they might previously have gone unidentified.
“For diphtheria, it used to be three, four states up north. Now it has spread to one or two this way. And the spread again is just a reflection again of increased surveillance systems. More cases are being detected unlike before,” he said.
According to him, detecting more cases was a positive development because it enabled health authorities to respond, but such detection must be matched with effective control measures.
“It’s a plus, but again when we detect more cases, we must be able to control and respond appropriately,” Idris said.
He urged state and local governments to intensify vaccination efforts, particularly in affected, underserved and hard-to-reach communities, while identifying areas with low immunisation coverage and reaching children who had missed routine doses.
Idris also called on healthcare workers to maintain a high index of suspicion for diphtheria, promptly identify suspected cases using the standard case definition, report them and ensure appropriate management.
He said health facilities must have functional triage and isolation systems, adequate personal protective equipment, hand-hygiene facilities and systems for prompt notification and referral of suspected cases.
The NCDC boss also urged parents and caregivers to ensure that children were fully vaccinated against diphtheria.
“If a child has missed any recommended dose, please take the child to the nearest health facility to complete it. Diphtheria vaccines are safe, effective and available free of charge through routine immunisation services and vaccination campaigns,” he said.
He said early presentation for treatment remained critical because prompt action could save lives.
While diphtheria continues to pose a significant burden, Idris said the decline in its case fatality rate was encouraging, but warned that the country could not afford to relax its response.
He called for sustained collaboration among the Federal Government, states, local governments, healthcare workers, traditional and religious leaders, partners, communities and families to bring transmission under control.
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