The Permanent Secretary, Adamawa Ministry of Health, Mr Kennedy Bartimaus, said necessary arrangement has been concluded for Saturday flag-off of the statewide measles and meningitis ‘A’ vaccination.
Bartimaus told newsmen at a briefing Friday in Yola that the formal flag-off would be done by Gov. Ahmadu Fintiri at the palace of the District Head of Girei, Girei LGA.
“The campaign exercise is going to be conducted in two phases starting from November 16 to December 2, 2019 with target of 800,150 eligible children for measles and 763,630 for meningitis.
“Adequate doses of vaccines to this effect have been received from National Primary Healthcare Development Agency and are already distributed to the LGAs,” Bartimaus said.
He explained that during the exercise injectable vaccines would be administered free of charge in all the fixed and temporary posts designated for the exercise,adding that all eligible child would be reached irrespective of previous vaccination status.
“For measles, we are targeting children children from months to 59 months while for meningitis “A” is from 1 to 5 years of age. This campaign is life-saving and will prevent the child from having these diseases in future.”
While urging parents and caregivers to present their wards for the exercise, the permanent secretary said that all necessary arrangement had been made including the mobilization of over 5000 health workers for the exercise and that house to house mobilization teams comprising mainly women, town criers and volunteers were also trained to facilitate the exercise.
He lauded support of technical partners like UNICEF, WHO, CDC, GAVI as well as the media, traditional and religious leaders for their support to the exercise and urged for sustain collaboration for a smooth exercise.
“Mass population displacements due to insecurity have posed an immense challenge to health care services delivery in some parts of the state. Therefore, strengthening of routine immunization services remains top priority to secure further reduction in mortality associated with vaccine-preventable diseases,” Bartimaus said.
