FG targets 3.3m children for measles immunisation, says Minister

Federal Government says it has earmarked N3.5 billion for the immunisation of no fewer than three million children in the 2017/2018 national campaign for the eradication of measles.

The Minister of State for Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, made the disclosure on Tuesday in Kaduna at the flag-off of the 2017/2018 national immunisation campaign for the eradication of measles among children.

Ehanire said that the country accounted for 3.3 million unimmunised children, due to persistently low routine measles immunisation coverage.

“Several measles supplemental immunisation campaigns conducted to provide a second opportunity to reach unimmunised children had failed to achieve the required 95 per cent coverage.

“Consequently, population immunity for measles is very low resulting in frequent outbreak of the disease across the country,” he said.

According to him, the Federal Ministry of Health is confident that this 2017/2018 campaign will be different going by high quality preparation and financial commitment by all levels of government.

“It is, therefore, imperative that all stakeholders should support the campaign with time, material and financial resources to meet the targeted 3.3 million children within the period,“ the minister said.

Ehanire, represented by Dr Faisal Shuaib, Executive Director, National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA), said that the agency was working with development partners to achieve high quality and effective measles vaccination in the 2017/2018 campaign.

He commended the Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai and other governors that had released their counterpart fund for measles vaccination campaign.

“I am optimistic that other governors will release theirs on schedule for the campaign.

“I urge all political, traditional and religious leaders and the civil society groups to provide the required oversight and resources needed to safeguard the lives of our children,” the minister said.

Ehanire appealed to development partners, the media and other stakeholders to support the immunisation campaign to ensure that measles was eradicated within record time in the country.

He also commended religious leaders and traditional rulers for their support toward the eradication of the diseases among children under the age of five.

In his remarks, El-Rufai said that the state government was targeting about 1.5 million children for the campaign expected to last six days beginning from Nov. 9 in the North-West zone.

The governor, represented by his deputy, Barnabas Bala Bantex, said that the state government placed the health of people in the state on its priority list.

He said this was with the belief that eradicating communicable diseases among children would reduce mortality rate in the state.

The governor said that the state government was undertaking the upgrade of 255 primary healthcare centres across the state in addition to other healthcare delivery services.

He urged parents and healthcare givers to sustain the efforts to eradicate the menace, assuring people that the vaccines were safe.

El-Rufai’s family, through Hajiya Aisha Ummi Garba, presented three of their kids for the immunisation to prove the safety of the vaccines to residents.

Our correspondent reports that the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Abubakar Sa’ad III, was represented at the event by Shehu of Bama, Alhaji Kyari Umar El-Kanemi.