Nigeria is set to immunize an estimated 35 million children against measles this month.The immunization exercise will be conducted in two phases and children between nine months and five years will benefit from the programme.
The first phase, which will kick off in the capital city Abuja and the 19 northern states of the Federation started yesterday October 5th and will continue till Wednesday October 9th, 2013. The second phase however will take place between November 2nd and 6th , 2013 in all the southern states.
The campaign, we hope would reduce the cases of measles in our beloved country.
Measles is a highly infectious viral illness causing a reddish rash all over the body with fever preceded by upper respiratory tract infections e.g cough, catarrh and sometimes with conjuctivitis. It can lead to serious complications, including blindness and even death in children.
Nigeria this year is said to have reported 53,842 cases of measles, which claimed 330 lives, marking a sharp rise from a year ago, when there were 104 deaths out of the 8,243 reported cases.
Please ensure that all children under the age of five is immunized irrespective of whether they have been vaccinated previously or not. Please pass on this message.
Let us all fight this battle against measles.
Pictures courtesy of google.
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