By Austine Uche-Ejeke
Lagos State ministry of Health in conjunction with UNICEF is kick starting a week-long measles vaccinations campaign themed “WE CATCH UP CAMPAIGN.”
The vaccination campaign that is expected to last between 22nd to 29th March, 2018, will be carried out in all the 20 local government areas and 37 Local Council Development Areas of the state.
Breaking the news on Monday, the Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Primary Health Board, Mrs. Iyabo Are, said the measles vaccination has become imperative as a result of the recent outbreak of the disease, particularly to those who have not received measles vaccination before known as Zero Vaccinations.
Those that are to benefit from the vaccinations are children between the ages of 9 months and 5 years.
Explaining further, she said that the vaccination is absolutely free of charge as the beneficiaries won’t pay anything.
The target earmarked for this campaign is about 3.6 million children across the state and it is expected to achieve a 95% coverage success rate as against 84% achieved last year.
Mrs. Are revealed that in the past the vaccination campaign suffered in proper coordination. As such Lagos State Government is committing itself by providing counterpart funds and providing human and material resources to see to the effective execution of the campaign.
To achieve this, Lagos State residents have been advised to benefit from this programme by taking their children to primary health centres, designated private hospitals, temporary posts, churches, mosques, schools, etc.
Nigeria with a population of about 180 million is reputed to account for 5% of unvaccinated children for measles, one of the highest in the whole world.
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