The Nigerian Prisons Service has vaccinated 29,163 Prisoners against Cerebrospinal Meningitis, CSM, in the 19 northern states, an official has said.

This exercise was carried out in collaboration with the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, NPHCDA, in response to the outbreak of the disease in some northern states of the country, Francis Enobore, the prisons spokesperson, said.

The benefiting states include Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa and Kaduna. Others are Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara Nasarawa and Niger State. Also covered are Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara State.

The prison authority also extended the service to members of staff and their families including civilians living in the neighbourhood of the prisons.

This is the first phase of the exercise, which is expected to cover prison formations in all the 36 states of the federation including the Federal Capital Territory, Mr. Enobore said.

Other management initiatives designed to protect prisoners against communicable diseases have also been up-scaled particularly in prisons prone to health challenges due to inmates’ congestion.

While applauding the support from the NPHCDA, Mr. Enobore said no prisoner has died from the recent meningitis outbreak which has caused the death of over 800 Nigerians.

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