The tragic joke here is that the Nigerian government expected Meningitis to come in the A strain again in 2017, because that’s what it has always done.
745 Nigerians have died of Meningitis in an outbreak which has shown just how broken the country’s health system is.
To make matters worse, two government officials have placed the responsibility for the outbreak on God’s shoulders.
Governor Alhaji Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State, which has suffered the highest casualty, said on Tuesday, April 4, that God sent the disease outbreak to punish Nigerians for fornication and other atrocities.
“What we used to know as far as meningitis is concerned is the Type A virus…However, because people refused to stop their nefarious activities, God now decided to send Type C virus, which has no vaccination,” Yari said after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja.
“People have turned away from God and he has promised that ‘if you do anyhow, you see anyhow.’ That is just the cause of this outbreak, as far as I am concerned. There is no way fornication will be so rampant and God will not send a disease that cannot be cured,” he added.
The governor of a state where more than 200 people have died of a very curable disease does not know that the same ailment can be prevented by vaccination. Wow, just wow.
Also, the Chairman of the National Immunization Finance Task Team (NIFT), Ben Anyene has said that authorities are helpless to stop the epidemic and are now hoping on divine intervention, meaning they want God to step in.
As a Christian, I believe very much in miracles and God’s healing power, but as a Nigerian who has seen many people die needless deaths due to poor health care and government negligence, I’m tired of hearing lame excuses from people who just refuse to take responsibility for their actions and inactions.
The Nigerian government is very fond of playing sitting duck in times of calm, and then when chaos strikes, they start running around like mice in a cage begging for foreign aid and asking citizens to pray to God for help.
When Ebola struck in 2014, we weren’t ready, but God helped us and “only” 8 people died. Then came Lassa fever; many people have died, and are still dying unnecessary deaths, but hey, let’s wait for God n'est-ce pas? People are still dying of cholera, but why blame the government, after all God is the giver and taker of life.
This has been status quo in Nigeria for a while, so, unfortunate though it may be, no one was really surprised when we were again caught unawares by a meningitis outbreak.
Government officials are blaming the high casualty figure on the fact that the current epidemic was caused by the “rare” Meningitis C strain, but Dr. Damilola Opawale says that the strain is well known to medical experts.
“…Type C, although it’s a different strain, is not new, we are aware of it, we’ve learnt about it before. We know that it exists, but we were just not prepared,” Opawale said on Wednesday, April 5, while appearing on Frankly Speaking with Jola Sotubo.
The lack of preparation on the part of the government was also pointed out by Anyene, who said warning signs of a Meningitis C outbreak had been appearing for the past three years.
“The C strain of meningitis is not very common, but it does happen. The sign has been there in the country for the past three years but nobody wanted to take note,” he said.
“For countries that plan, you don’t have to wait to have a situation. Through their planning and preventive measures, they have these vaccines stocked. You heard them talking about vaccine coming from Britain. Britain doesn’t have meningitis but because of planning, they have some stock but Nigeria does not have such.
“We need to build up our system because vaccine is not a commodity on the shelf that you can just buy over the counter. Vaccine has to be pre-ordered and paid for upfront and it takes about six months for it to be delivered to you,” he added.
In actual fact, Meningitis C is so "common" that, in the United Kingdom, the vaccine is given to babies, young adults and people who want to travel.
The tragic joke here is that the Nigerian government expected Meningitis to come in the A strain again in 2017, because that’s what it has always done.
You’d think people in charge of a country would know about the evolution of disease strains and drug resistance, but in Nigeria’s case that's obviously asking too much.
If any country should be prepared for meningitis outbreaks, it’s Nigeria, because the whole of northern Nigeria lies within the African Meningitis Belt. The African Meningitis Belt is a region in sub-Saharan Africa with a high incidence of meningitis.
In 1996, 50,000 cases of meningitis were recorded in Nigeria in an epidemic which killed about 12,000 people and is known as the worst meningitis outbreak in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Since then, thousands of Nigerians have continued to contract meningitis while hundreds die annually of the disease.
Meningitis affects more than 1 million people worldwide each year and can cause death within 24 hours. However, the difference between Nigeria and other governments of the world is their preparation and our lack of same.
Today, April 24, is World Meningitis Day, but instead of releasing the usual press releases and sorry statements, the Nigerian government should sit and strategize on how to prevent another flurry of deaths in 2018.
It is simply inexcusable for hundreds of Nigerians to keep dying from a disease that can be curbed with a little more preparation and awareness.
ALSO READ: 10 things you should know about meningitis outbreak in Nigeria
It’s time to stop blaming God and expecting him to solve problems that he already gave human beings the brains to tackle.
God will not save Nigeria from disease outbreaks; a responsible and responsive government will.
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