Zambia's battle against cholera outbreaks and the path to public health resilience: a narrative review.

In Zambia, cholera has been a persistent public health concern for decades, mainly attributed to inadequate sanitation and restricted access to clean water in some parts of the country. The literature was collected from PubMed, Google Scholar, and public health organization websites, focusing on cholera outbreaks in Zambia since 2000. Key search terms included 'cholera prevention' and 'Zambia outbreaks.

Vaccine hesitancy under the lens: Nigeria's struggle against the worst diphtheria outbreak in decades.

The resurgence of diphtheria in Nigeria, culminating in an outbreak surpassing previous records, has spotlighted the critical imperative for robust immunization policies amidst a milieu of vaccine hesitancy. This commentary delineates the multifaceted dimensions of the current diphtheria outbreak, which started in May 2022, juxtaposed against historical outbreaks, with a focal examination of the pervasive vaccine hesitancy and its underpinning sociocultural and systemic determinants. The discourse extends to a meticulous evaluation of Nigeria's public health response, underlined by the synergy with international organizations, reflecting a global collaborative ethos in combating the diphtheria menace.

Revelation of an important weakness in polio elimination efforts in Nigeria: a descriptive cross-sectional study of nomadic dynamics in Sokoto and Taraba States, May 2013.

Introduction: Operational gaps in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative implementation had been partly responsible for inadequate population immunity and the continued transmission of wild poliovirus in Nigeria before the African Region was declared polio-free in 2020. Missed opportunities to provide services in nomadic populations due to frequent mobility, lack of inclusion in microplans and the remoteness of their settlements were the major challenges. During May 2013 we conducted immunization outreach to nomadic and other underserved communities in Rabah LGA, Sokoto state, and Ardo Kola LGA, Taraba state, in Nigeria to identify and vaccinate children missed during supplemental immunization activities while identifying missed acute flaccid paralysis cases.

Invasive Meningococcal Meningitis Serogroup C Outbreak in Northwest Nigeria, 2015 - Third Consecutive Outbreak of a New Strain.

Background: In northwest Nigeria in 2013 and 2014, two sequential, localized outbreaks of meningitis were caused by a new strain of Neisseria meningitidis serogroup C (NmC). In 2015, an outbreak caused by the same novel NmC strain occurred over a wider geographical area, displaying different characteristics to the previous outbreaks. We describe cases treated by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in the 2015 outbreak.