Doctors Without Borders, also known as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), has donated 146 beds to the government of Kano State, northwest Nigeria, to address the fatal diphtheria outbreak in the state.

Development Diaries reports that Kano leads the list of 20 states with 7,000 instances of diphtheria out of approximately 15,060 cases nationwide, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

According to an MSF official in Kano, the humanitarian organisation provided a 56-bed facility at the Infectious Diseases Hospital (IDH) in the state and another 90-bed capacity at Murtala Muhammad Specialists Hospital (MMSH).

Save the Children, in a September report, warned that just 42 percent of children under the age of 15 were currently adequately protected against diphtheria in Nigeria.

It further warned that a widespread immunisation effort will not be effective unless the vaccine shortfall is immediately addressed.

Photo source: UNICEF