UNICEF targets 9 million children for measles, polio vaccinations in North

The United Nation’s Children Fund (UNICEF) Bauchi Field Office has declared that the International Agency is targeting over nine million children in five Northern States for measle and polio immunisation.

BusinessDay reports that the five Northern States include Bauchi, Adamawa, Gombe, Taraba and Plateau.

Patrick Akor, UNICEF Health Specialist at a Press Briefing with the newsmen in Bauchi, said that the oral polio vaccination would be administered on 6, 815,691 children, aged 0 to 59 months, while 3 million children would be given measles vaccination during the campaign.

He said that the move was prompted by the inability of the last campaign in 2022 to record the 95% vaccination target coverage, adding that measles and other child-related diseases remained a big threat to children and are responsible for mortality, blindness and some other health life-threatening conditions.

Akor stressed that it was imperative that the Governments with support from UNICEF and other UN agencies actually carried out the campaign to ensure that children whether in remote areas or security compromised areas are protected from measles and other vaccine preventable diseases.

The UNICEF officer explained that while Gombe, Plateau, Bauchi and Adamawa would be implementing measles vaccination campaign alongside other diseases such as polio, But, Taraba State would be implementing the OBR, which is just polio.

According to him, UNICEF has been working alongside other partners and the Federal Government through the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency and the State Agencies to ensure that different aspects of the campaigns are covered.

While, George Eki the UNICEF Specialist on Social Behavioural Change, said that the Bauchi Field Office had made logistics support available to the States, especially the vaccines, to ensure the success of the campaign.

George Eki said that there were also commodities which UNICEF had provided to ensure proper storage of the vaccines, including advocacy Communication and Social Mobilisation to boost wider coverage.