The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has said that 1,319 deaths have been recorded from diphtheria between 2022 and 2025.
According to NCDC‘s epidemiological report, posted on its official website, 42,642 suspected cases were recorded across 37 states and 350 local government areas (LGAs).
It said out of the suspected cases, 25,812 cases (60.5%) were confirmed, while 5,470 cases remained unclassified.
The report which attributed the high number of cases recorded to significant gaps in vaccination coverage, revealed that the hardest-hit states include Kano, Yobe, Katsina, Bauchi, Borno, Kaduna, and Jigawa, which accounted for 96.3 per cent of all suspected cases.
It further showed that children between ages one and fourteen were the most affected, accounting for 62.9 per cent (16,234 cases) of all confirmed infections.
NCDC expressed worry that only 4,981 (19.3%) of the confirmed cases had received complete vaccination, noting that several challenges persist, including limited testing resources, inadequate reagents and consumables for PCR testing on clinical samples.