Benue targets 900, 000 children for vaccination

Wife of the Governor of Benue State, Eunice Ortom in conjunction with development partners have expressed determination to ensure that at least 900, 000 children in the state benefits from the forthcoming Measles Vaccination exercise. Ortom made this known on Tuesday during a meeting with female Chairmen of Local Government Councils, Wives of LG Chairmen, […]

Wife of the Governor of Benue State, Eunice Ortom in conjunction with development partners have expressed determination to ensure that at least 900, 000 children in the state benefits from the forthcoming Measles Vaccination exercise.

Ortom made this known on Tuesday during a meeting with female Chairmen of Local Government Councils, Wives of LG Chairmen, Heads of health departments, Supervisory Councillors and Principal Officers in the health sector of the state.

She urged all stakeholders to work towards the success of the programme while quoting from 2016 datas of WHO and UNICEF, the governor’s wife said Nigeria has the highest number of un-immunized children against measles globally ahead of India and Pakistan.

"As mothers, we know the pains of carrying and birthing a child after nine months. So, we do not want to lose any child to measles in Benue state. Let us have less number of incidences and if possible, eliminate measles in Benue and Nigeria at large," she said.

Also speaking, the executive secretary of Benue State Primary Health Care, Dr Bem Agida, said federal government has organized the national  measles campaign to immunize children between nine months and 59 months.

Agida said that the implementation would be carried out in two phases in Benue beginning from February 8 and that it would end statewide by February 20 even as he advised the stakeholders to mobilise women groups at the grassroots to sensitive them on the campaign.