On Thursday, Ogun State Commissioner for Health Dr. Tomi Coker stated that the state’s goal for the seven-day Integrated Measles Campaign, which begins on Saturday, is to vaccinate 1,136,953 children between the ages of nine and fifty-nine months throughout the 20 local governments.
Coker said this during a news conference at the Ministry of Health’s Governor’s Office conference room in Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta.
The measles vaccine has prevented 57 million deaths worldwide between 2000 and 2022, according to the commissioner, who also described measles as a highly contagious, airborne disease caused by a virus that can cause blindness, serious complications, and death.
Although there is a safe and affordable vaccine to combat the virus, she pointed out that in 2022, there were an anticipated 136,000 measles fatalities worldwide, primarily among children under the age of five who were either unvaccinated or inadequately vaccinated.
According to the commissioner, the state government vaccinated 1,047,150 children aged 9 to 59 months against measles and 5,594,968 children aged 9 to 59 months and adults aged 5 to 49 years against yellow fever across the 20 local governments as part of the Integrated Measles and Yellow Fever Campaign exercise in 2022 in an effort to help reduce the measles outbreak worldwide.
According to Coker, the campaign that was carried out two years ago resulted in a significant decrease in the number of confirmed cases of measles, which went from 118 in October 2022 to 15 in the same period in 2024. Additionally, the number of confirmed cases of yellow fever, which was three in October 2022, dropped to zero this year.
Approximately 1,136,953 children aged 9 to 59 months are the target of this year’s measles campaign, which will take place throughout 20 LGs from October 19 to October 25, according to the commissioner.
“During the seven days of the campaign, more than 5,000 health workers will be sent out in teams to different locations. Additionally, I want to let you know that the campaign will make use of government health facilities (primary, secondary, and tertiary), churches, mosques, markets, schools, parks, garages, and other temporary fixed locations.
To guarantee that children in difficult-to-reach or challenging terrain in the various local governments are not excluded from this initiative, the state government has also contributed funds.
“The National Primary Health Care Development Agency has provided more than a million doses of measles vaccines, immunization cards, and syringes to the various local government health authority cold stores for the exercise, which will start on October 19, 2024.”
According to Coker, the campaign would begin on Friday at Saint Peters Anglican Primary School Siun, located in the state’s Obafemi Owode Local Government.
In order to take advantage of the campaign, the Commissioner has urged parents, guardians, and caregivers to bring their children (9 months to 59 months) to the designated centers located throughout the 236 wards of the state’s 20 Local Governments. The Commissioner has described the vaccine as safe, effective, and cost-free.
Coker praised Gov. Dapo Abiodun as a truly loving father, especially for his unwavering support of the state’s health sector, notably the immunization services, and other partners for providing financial and technical assistance to all state health initiatives.
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