25th May, 2018
Uganda’s Ministry of Health on Thursday announced an outbreak of measles, one of the country’s top killer diseases.
Jane Ruth Aceng, Minister for Health, said the outbreak has been reported in 29 districts in the East African country, adding that children are the most affected.
According to her, the ministry plans to carry out an emergency immunisation exercise in the affected districts, targeting children below five years.
“The move is to avert the spread of the disease.
“The emergency immunisation exercise is an addition to the routine measles immunisation carried out after every two years,’’ she said.
According to the ministry, measles is one of the killer diseases among children below five years.
The others include tetanus, whooping cough, diphtheria, polio and tuberculosis.
The health authorities blamed the low level of immunisation for the outbreak of the disease.
“Some districts have coverage ranging between 70 and 85 per cent.
“That is not good enough and that is why we continue to experience these outbreaks.
“We need to increase the coverage to above 95 per cent so that we shall see no cases of measles,’’ Aceng said.
Measles is a highly infectious viral disease that spreads through coughs and sneezes and can cause serious illness.
Symptoms of the disease include a high fever, cough, runny nose and red watery eyes.
According to the World Health Organisation, the symptoms of measles appear about seven to 14 days after a person is infected.