Benue targets 900, 000 children for vaccination

Wife of the Governor of Benue State, Mrs Eunice Ortom, in conjunction with development partners have expressed determination to ensure that at least 900, 000 children in the state benefit from the forthcoming measles vaccination exercise.

Mrs Ortom made this known on Tuesday during a meeting with female Chairmen of Local Government Councils, Wives of LG Chairmen, Heads of health departments, supervisory councilors and principal officers in the health sector of the state.

She urged all stakeholders to work towards the success of the programme while quoting from 2016 data of WHO and UNICEF, the governor’s wife said Nigeria has the highest number of un-immunized children against measles globally ahead of India and Pakistan.

“As mothers, we know the pains of carrying and birthing a child after nine months. So, we do not want to lose any child to measles in Benue state. Let us have less number of incidents and if possible, eliminate measles in Benue and Nigeria at large,” she said.

Also speaking, the Executive Secretary of Benue State Primary Health Care, Dr Bem Agida, said federal government had organized the national measles campaign to immunize children between nine months and 59 months.

Agida said that the implementation would be carried out in two phases in Benue beginning from February 8.