A non-governmental organisation, International Association of Lions Club and other stakeholders staged a five-day advocacy and social mobilisation campaign on child immunisation against measles in Lagos. Funke Olaode reports
In spite of the availability of a safe and effective vaccine for over forty years, measles still remains endemic in Nigeria and has been identified as one of the leading causes of infant and child mortality, especially in Africa. And according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), of the 139,300 global deaths to measles in 2010, most of the victims were children under the age of five. The scourge no doubt poses a bigger threat to children’s health as it is said to be the fifth leading cause of death and sickness in children worldwide. While government and other stakeholders have tried to nib the disease in the bud, a non-governmental organisation, International Association of Lions Club, Multiple District 404 Nigeria have taken the struggle further to make it a yearly affairs in the last six years through advocacy and social mobilisation. And as part of activities to take National Measles Immunisation programme 2016 to every door step in Lagos and its environ, the association in collaboration with the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Lagos State and all Lions in the Southern part of Nigeria recently flagged off a five-day campaign in Lagos which started on Wednesday January 28 and ended on February 1, 2016.
The flag off campaign ceremony which kicked off at Yaba Council Development Area paraded eminent dignitaries. Among whom were executive governor of Lagos State, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode who was represented by the state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, Oba Owolabi Adeniyi, World Health Organisation Coordinator for Lagos State, Dr. Sunday Abidoye, Multiple District Chairperson, District 404, Lion Club, Lion Stella Agbogun, executive secretary of the local government, Hon. Bola Lawal Olumegbon, Special Adviser on Primary Health care, Lagos State, Dr. Femi Onanuga, Chairman, House Committee on Health, Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Segun Olulana, Prince Kayode Olowu, Lion Kola Oyekanmi, Lion Olanipekun, Hon. Adetayo Oyemade amongst others.
The latest move was a follow up to the same measles campaign in the 19 Northern states and the F.C.T, which took place at the Garki family clinic which took place in November 2015. Findings have revealed that measles is still a problem and thousands of children still die annually from the disease. For instance, children born after the last measles campaign in 2013 and who have never received routine immunisation are now more at risk of the disease. To be fully protected against measles, it is important that children, at least nine months to five years of age, are vaccinated at least twice with the measles vaccine, which is free and available at the vaccination post or health center.
According to Lions National Measles campaign coordinator, Dr. Yinka Griffin, said the involvement of Lions in Measles campaign in Nigeria started with a Pilot programme in 2011. This was closely followed by another campaign in 2013; Lions have been mainly involved in Advocacy and Social mobilisation aimed at encouraging mothers and guardians to get their children and wards immunised against the dreaded measles disease. “LIONS is an humanitarian club with presence in over 200 countries and we are the largest humanitarian organisation in the world. We take care of vision. That is why we are involved to ensure that the disease is eradicated in Nigeria. The overall campaign is to reduce childhood mortality and morbidity from measles infection among children aged nine months to five years”
Corroborating Griffin, Mrs. Stella Agbogun said Lions Club is involved because “we take care of vision as one of the complications of measles is blindness and that is why we have collaborated with the Lagos State government in the eradication of measles. Measles reduces a child’s ability to fight diseases, resulting in frequent illness and if not taken care of, it can cause blindness and death.” She advised mothers to bring out their children for immunisation.
Lending his support to the on-going campaign, Chairman, Lagos State House of Assembly on Health, Hon. Segun Olulana praised Lagos State for demonstrating that they are at the forefront to ensure that all the children are preserved. He also enjoined fathers and mothers to join the campaign to ensure that the vaccines are administered to their children. “We are all involved in this and together we shall stamp out measles in Nigeria.”
Applauding the Lagos State government for giving the necessary attention to child and maternal health, executive secretary of Yaba Council Development Area, Hon. Bola Lawal Olumegbon, said there is no doubt that government it is doing a lot in ‘’preventing contagious disease among children.”
Lawal-Olumegbon urged people to continue to key into this preventive programme as measles is a very dangerous disease, being the leading cause of death in children. “Being a viral infection, it is highly contagious and therefore, children are more susceptible with early symptoms, such as cough, fever, red eyes, running nose and sore throat. If untreated, it can lead to complications such as severe diarrhea, bronchitis, ear infection, and blindness.”
Since the only way to prevent measles is through immunisation, Lawal-Olumegbon urged her people in Yaba area and its environs to embrace government effort in this regard.
In his remarks, World Health Organisation coordinator for Lagos State, Dr. Sunday Abidoye, enjoined the mothers and caregivers to make use of this opportunity to immunise their children from ages nine months to five years irrespective of their previous immunisations status. Abidoye also advised the members of the public to cooperate with their teams in all towns and settlements in Lagos. He reiterated his organisation’s readiness to partner Lagos State government and Nigeria at large.
In his address, the special adviser primary health care, Dr. Femi Onanuga said the follow-up campaign (MFC), was an important step in eliminating measles in our society. He stressed that the step became necessary in view of the consolidation of the gains of year 2013 Measles ‘Catch-up’ Campaign and the need to ensure that the right of every child to attain highest health status is possible. Explaining how communicable the disease is, Onanuga explained that measles virus is transmitted by airborne droplets and is easily spread from person to person, especially after seven days before to three days after the rash appears. Almost all non-immune children contract measles if exposed to the virus and complications are more common and severe in children under five years of age and who are malnourished.
He said the campaign offers a window of opportunity to protect the children; the overall objective is to enhance herd immunity to measles by achieving coverage for measles immunization.
While commending International Association of Lions Club, Multiple District 404 Nigeria for their efforts, Onanuga stressed that campaigns, in and of themselves, represent and acknowledge the effort of the current administration in Lagos State, towards improvement of routine immunisation coverage and status of the Primary Health Care (PHC) system. “This has informed the decision of the state government, to scale up the revitalisation of the PHC system in terms of renovation/upgrading/construction and provision of needed equipment and supplies. In addition, there has been a strengthening of routine immunisation outreaches to deprived areas of the state to ensure that every child is given the opportunity to be vaccinated against the six preventable childhood illnesses,” he said.
Rounding up the successful campaign programme, Commissioner for Health, Lagos State, Dr. Jide Idris who represented Governor Akinwunmi Ambode thanked all the stakeholders for partnering Lagos State government in eradication of measles out of Lagos. According to him, it is a known fact that the endemic remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality among children under five. He noted that the just concluded “2016 measles follow up campaign (MFC) was a clarion call to everyone to join and spread the awareness about prevention and cure of measles in the environment and ensuring the survival, protection and healthy growth of children.
Idris said, in recent times, there has been a marked increase in the number of children affected with measles in Nigeria. According to recent report of the World health Organisation, the number of children affected by the disease rose from 1, 187 from January-November 2009 to 7,288 for the corresponding period in 2010. Incidentally, 90 per cent of affected patients are children in age bracket of five years old and below.
“The Campaign for the Southern states in Nigeria, Lagos State inclusive, is a key response strategy to this challenge. This can only be achieved if we ensure that all children are presented for the vaccination regime which would impact positively on routine immunisation performance.
“In Lagos State, we have been very consistent in the implementation of our health care strategy for our people, especially maternal and child care, to ensure adequate protection against communicable and preventive diseases. The implementation of infant and child survival health programmes, especially in the area of polio prevention and eradication, resulted in non-detection of “wild polio” virus in the state since April 2009 and subsequent delisting of Nigeria as a “polio endemic” country in September, 2015. I have no doubt that with the level of our commitment and support of our people; we will surely achieve the targets for 2016 measles follow-up campaign in Lagos.”
Idris urged all stakeholders in the public and private sectors to support the campaign and reduce the potential risk of death and disability of infants and children in Lagos State from preventable communicable and infectious disease. He also seized the opportunity to appeal to all mothers and caregivers to take adequate precautions to curb the spread of measles in their community by learning how to ensure and sustain hygiene at home and in the environment. “As you know that children that are well fed on nutritious food in a hygienic environment have immunity to withstand infections better than malnourished children. Let’s be supportive government initiatives to ensure that every eligible child in the community receive his/her vaccination against measles and together we shall eradicate scourge in Lagos State,” he concluded.
Source: This Day News
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