Enugu targets 900,000 children in state-wide measles vaccination

The Enugu State Government says it is targeting 900,000 children between the ages of nine months and five years for vaccination in its forthcoming state-wide measles campaign.
The Director of Public Health in the state’s Ministry of Health, Dr Okechukwu Ossai, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria in Enugu on Friday.
Ossai said that the campaign would cover 20 per cent of the entire population of the state estimated to be above 4.5 million.
He said the ministry had already inaugurated a state Social Mobilisation Committee for the campaign to ensure highest quality coverage and effective measles campaign in the state.
The director noted that the committee had been intimated on the plans on how to reach out to children that would be eligible.
According to him, the early preparation is to ensure that all the per-requisites leading to the campaign are carried out and all the eligible children are immunised.
He said: “Enugu State Government in conjunction with its health partners will hold measles vaccination campaign in all health-care centres and other designated vaccination places throughout the state.
“The exercise, which was recently shifted, will now hold from March 8 to March 20.
“Only eligible children aged between nine months to five years will be immunised with measles vaccine during this campaign irrespective of their previous immunisation status.
“The state government and the ministry are appealing to parents, mothers and other caregivers to take their children to the nearest health-care centre or measles vaccination post for immunisation during this campaign.
“Trained immunisation health workers will be ready at the healthcare centres and vaccination points and they will also answer other vaccination related questions accordingly.
“The campaign is health facility-based not house-to-house.’’
He said that stakeholders such as the media, chairmen of area council, community and religious leaders had been duly mobilised for the campaign.