Kogi launches immunization against measles, polio

By Richard Elesho/Kogi

The Kogi State Government has set a target of reaching nearly two million children aged between 9 months to 14 years in its current campaign against two highly infectious and deadly diseases, measles, and polio.

This was disclosed by the Executive Director, Kogi State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, KSPHCDA, Dr. Muazu Musa Omeiza at the flagoff of the campaign in Lokoja, the state capital on Tuesday.

Omeiza noted that the indepth campaign against Measles Rubella (MR), including novel Oral Polio Virus (nOPV), Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccination, and Routine Immunization (RI) is specifically targeted at One Million, Nine Hundred and Eighty-eight Thousand, Three Hundred and Seventy -one (1,988,371) children.

The campaign runs from the 6th to the 15th of October and enjoys support from the United Nations Children Emerhency Fund, UNICEF. The exercise is tailored towards providing access and increasing vaccine availability and use by children. It is also a major step to the protection of young girls against cervical cancer through the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine.

While inaugurating the campaign in the office of the KSPHCDA at Old Market, Lokoja, Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo commended the development partners and urged traditional and religious leaders not to relent in mobilising women and children to participate in the program.

He pledged his administration’s commitment to health care delivery.

“Routine immunisation is a powerful tool to end avoidable ailments and to preserve our state. It is our collective responsibility to ensure that every child is reached.”

The representative of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Ishola Abdulrazaq, in a goodwill message, praised Kogi State for achieving 100 per cent coverage in previous immunization rounds. He called for the recruitment of more hands in the health sector.

There was excitement on the faces of nursing mothers and guardians whose wards were beneficiaries of the scheme.