Measles Campaign: Only Four States Have Released Counterpart Funding

... As number of outbreak multiplies

The dream of total eradication of measles from Nigeria is still a far cry from reality as only four states, namely Kebbi, Borno, Nasarawa and Imo have released their counterpart funding into a dedicated account for measles immunisation despite a meeting with the Nigeria’s Governors Forum (NGF).

Also, the number of outbreaks has increased from 166 affecting 140 LGAs to 183 affecting 158 LGAs in 2015 and 2016 respectively, as surveillance data shows that there was a steady increase in measles incidence among children under five years in the North from 190/million in 2014 to 527/ million in 2016.

The Executive Secretary of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Faisal Shuaib, who revealed this in Abuja during a briefing on the 2018 measles vaccination campaign, said while only four states had released theirs, Kano was the only state that had partially released its counterpart funds for the activity.

For Kano State, Shuaib said “The total amount Kano State is to provide as counterpart funds (65,675,148), only nine million has been released. This N9 million came from the state account. The balance is to come from the LGA account. The ministry of the local government chairman has been away to hajj and thus could not sign the release of the balance.”

The NPHCDA boss said states that do not release their funds by 15th September, 2017, would be stepped down from participating in the next measles campaign as the agency would not continue to record poor quality campaign.

“The trend of proportion of measles cases among children aged from 5 and 10 years in the North has been rising steadily since 2014, cumulating in 79.4 per cent and 19.1 per cent respectively in 2016. The southern states, though the incidence decreased from 111/ million in 2014 to 11/ million in 2016, with the incidence rate still above the desired less than five per million population.

“The campaign will commence in all the North-west states from October 26 to 31 2017 while the North-east states will implement from November 30 to December 5, 2017. The North-central states will implement from February 1 to 6, 2018 while all Southern states will implement from 8th to 13th of March 2018. ”