Measles: Gombe immunises 785,586, says target exceeded

By Jedidah Silas kiman
Gombe

Gombe state Primary Health Care Development Agency has said a total of 785,586 children under five years of age in Gombe have been immunised in the just concluded national campaign against measles disease.
Executive secretary of the state primary health care development agency Dr Ahmed Mohammed Gana told our reporter in Gombe that, the measles campaign was the best conducted in the history of measles campaign in the state as immunisation coverage had been able to reach about 2 percent above the estimated target.
“we had a successful implementation, and the best measles campaign we have ever had.The national target for this round was 95 percent and if you look at target for the state, we had 771,697 of eligible children, but we,ve been able to cover 785,586 which is in excess of our target.”

According to him,the exercise was also extended with one day to enable vaccinators cover even wider number of eligible children because of the influx of Internally Displaced Persons into the state from neigbouring state as a result of insurgency.
Gana who also commended the level of compliance by the children’s parents and guardians,also stated that the health agency and its partners are on track to reach their ultimate objective of eliminating the disease, saying the effort would also require meticulous planning,lot of resources,mobilisation and commitment.

Earlier, the state coordinator World Health Organisation Dr Dauda Madudu,told journalista in Gombe that the essence of the measles campaign was to improve the level of immunity in the society, and avoid possible outbreak of the disease.
He however stated that the disease has reached elimination stage, going by the success recorded in the total eradication of polio from Nigeria.
He said a follow-up campaign such as this, was  needed to reach all build up cases missed or those that were not eligible in 20015, that is those children that were less than 9 months old, or those that routine immunisation could not capture.

He said the repercussion for the larger society, where a few people refused to take the immunisation, is that the number of children to be protected would increase, thereby reducing the immunity of the community.
Useni further said Turkula, was a great nationalist, a traditional ruler per excellent, a peaceful and an exemplary leader, whose lost has widen a gap which replacement would be hardly achieved.