Mrs. Uju Onwuegbuzina, the State Health Educator at the Anambra State Primary Health Care Development Agency, has announced plans to vaccinate over 1.1 million children during the upcoming 2024 Integrated Measles Campaign.
The vaccination drive is scheduled to commence on October 12 and will cover all 21 local government areas across the state.
She disclosed that the state had received over 1.2 million doses of the measles vaccine to administer across the state’s 330 wards.
Onwuegbuzina emphasized the campaign’s importance in safeguarding children and achieving broad immunization coverage.
Integrated Measles Campaign
The 2024 Integrated Measles Campaign will take place between October 12 and October 18, targeting children between the ages of 9 months and 59 months.
The vaccination points will include health facilities, mobile and fixed vaccination sites, churches, schools, markets, and community centers. According to Onwuegbuzina, the state is fully prepared for the campaign.“This campaign is very important to protect our children from this killer disease and secure their future,” said Onwuegbuzina. “So, we encourage parents and caregivers to bring out their children for vaccination.”
The campaign will not be limited to Anambra alone, as similar efforts will take place in Benue, Enugu, Cross River, and Kogi states. These coordinated efforts aim to reduce the incidence of measles across the regions and ensure children are protected from this preventable disease.
Security challenges
Despite preparations, Onwuegbuzina highlighted certain challenges in reaching children in areas with ongoing security concerns. Ihiala, Nnewi South, Orumba South, and Ogbaru are among the regions identified as security-compromised.
To address these challenges, Onwuegbuzina noted that indigenes familiar with these communities would be deployed to carry out the campaign.
“To ensure no child is left behind and for us to meet the target of vaccinating 1,168,679 children, we will use indigenes of these security-compromised areas to carry out the campaign since they know the areas better,” she explained.
Dr. Hilary Ozoh, a Social and Behaviour Change Specialist at UNICEF, also spoke at the meeting, emphasizing the crucial role of the media in achieving the national target of 95% coverage. He urged the media to create data-driven and informative content that educates the public on the importance of the vaccination campaign.
“We urge the media to write data-based stories and report their stories from an informative point of view, to educate and enlighten Nigerians on the measles campaign to ultimately improve health services in the state.” said Ozoh.
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