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Tag: vaccination

  • Afghanistan inaugurates 3rd polio vaccination drive of 2024

    Afghanistan inaugurates 3rd polio vaccination drive of 2024

    Afghanistan has launched another polio vaccination campaign aimed at protecting around 8 million children under the age of 5, the Taliban Health Ministry announced on Monday.

    The four-day campaign is the third this year and will cover 23 of the country’s 34 provinces, the ministry said in a statement.

    The ministry spokesman, Dr Sharafat Zaman, has called on religious scholars, community elders and parents to play their part in the fight against polio, a debilitating disease that can lead to paralysis and death.

    In December, the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned that the repatriation of Afghan migrants from neighbouring Pakistan had increased the risk of polio spreading.

    Read Also: UN considers halting Afghanistan mission after  ban for working women

    Since then, Afghanistan has conducted several rounds of vaccinations.

    According to official, four cases of the virus had been recorded in Afghanistan this year, a total of six cases were recorded in the country in 2023.

    Vaccination campaigns in Afghanistan and Pakistan often face challenges due to conspiracy theories that polio vaccines cause infertility or that vaccinators are spies.

    Before seizing power in August 2021, the Taliban had banned door-to-door vaccinations in areas they controlled.

    However, the United Nations successfully negotiated with them to resume the vaccination programme across the country after their return to power.

    (dpa/NAN)

  • Rabies: Fed Govt seeks vaccination of pets

    Rabies: Fed Govt seeks vaccination of pets

    Federal Government has urged Nigerians to prevent rabies by yearly vaccination of household pets.

     Rabies is a vaccine-preventable, zoonotic, viral disease which mostly occur in cats and dogs.

     It is transmitted to humans through infected dog bites. It causes severe fever, headache, agitation, confusion, hallucination, paralysis and death. There’s no cure for rabies once symptoms appear.

     Speaking during the road show to mark world rabies day yesterday in Abuja, Director of Veterinary Public Health at Federal Department of Veterinary and Pest Control Services in Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Dr Samuel Anzaku, advocated  control of stray dogs.

    Read Also: Give us more ministers, southeast APC youths beg Tinubu

     He called on Nigerians to report any case of dog bite to a veterinary clinic.

    “To ensure elimination of rabies, World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends at least 70 per cent of the dog population be vaccinated, ‘’ he said.

     “If you don’t do this, once a human has a dog bite from  an infected dog, and there’s no treatment, 100 per cent you’re sure the person is going to die if clinical signs have started showing up. So we’re here to tell Nigeria it is a disease that is very deadly”.

  • Polio vaccination: Adamawa mobilizes 1,685 teams to cover 226 wards

    The Adamawa State Government has received over one million doses of vaccines and has had 1,685 vaccination teams trained to move on house to house basis to vaccinate about one million children below five years across the 226 wards of the state.

    The state Deputy Governor, Engr Martins Babale, who disclosed this Saturday in Yola at the official flagoff of the 2019 3rd round polio vaccination campaign, urged parents to make their children available for the anti-polio vaccination so that the state could consolidate its successful fight against polio, given that the last reported case in the state was nearly 10 years ago.

    He said the state had done much to rise above national immunization coverage of 72% by achieving 81% and working to raise it even further, but that the people needed to do their part by being responsive to calls for routine vaccination.

    “Strong routine immunization system under technical coordination of the state Emergency Routine Immunization Coordination Centre are playing vital role in addressing routine immunization issues, and there is a need to sustain efforts and formulate additional strategies to ensure that all children in Adamawa State are fully vaccinated,” the deputy governor said.

    He thanked development partners, including World Health Organisation (WHO), EU/UNICEF, Rotary International, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Red Cross, who he said had continuously supported the government in the fight against polio and other vaccine preventable diseases.

  • Lagos govt begins vaccination against measles

    This year’s measles vaccination campaign for children between nine months and five years will hold in Lagos State from today till March 29, the state government has said.

    The Special Adviser to the Governor on Primary Health Care, Dr. Olufemi Onanuga, announced this yesterday at a media briefing on the government’s preparedness for the campaign.

    The governor’s aide said 3,609,538 children are targeted during the vaccination campaign.

    He said: “The objective of the campaign is to immunise at least 95 per cent of children aged nine months to five years with measles vaccine in all local government areas, regardless of their previous immunisation status.”

    Onanuga said the vaccination campaign would be implemented in two streams, adding that the first stream will hold in Alimosho, Agege, Ajeromi-Ifelodun, Amuwo-Odofin, Epe, Ikorodu, Lagos Island, Lagos Mainland, Mushin and Ojo local government areas between March 15 and 22.

    He added that the second stream will hold between March 22 and 29 in Apapa, Badagry, Eti-Osa, Ibeju-Lekki, Ikeja, Ifako-Ijaiye, Kosofe, Oshodi-Isolo, Somolu and Surulere local government areas.

    “Mop-up exercises would be carried out for the first and second streams between March 21 and 22 as well as on March 28 and 29 in wards and communities adjudged not to have been adequately covered, as set out in the objectives of the campaign.”

     

  • Ogun begins measles vaccination campaign

    The Ogun State government has said it will not relent in its efforts at eradicating measles through the vaccination of children against the deadly disease.

    Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, represented by his deputy, Chief (Mrs.) Yetunde Onanuga, stated this at the flag-off ceremony of the 2018 Measles Vaccination Campaign held at the Ojowo Local Council Development Area secretariat.

    He said the state government, in collaboration with the Federal Government and partners in the health sector, had put in place necessary measures to ensure prompt and efficient health care service delivery, imploring parents and guardians to accept the measles vaccines to be administered on their children and wards to boost their immunity.

    ”Governments at the federal and state levels are putting in place all these measures to ensure prompt and efficient health care services. Let me implore parents, especially our mothers and caregivers, to accept measles vaccines to be administered on their children and wards in order to boost and improve their immunity and prevent them from being infected,” Amosun said.

    On his part, the Commissioner for Health, Dr.   Babatunde Ipaye, said intervention, such as the vaccination exercise, was deliberately designed to impact directly on the overall health of the citizenry.

    He stated that in order to ensure that all eligible children were captured in the exercise, the state had trained 11,168 health workers to provide services in all the 20 local government and 37 local council development areas and was supported by the World Health Organisation (WHO) with 80 monitors to guarantee quality service delivery.

    Also speaking,  the Permanent Secretary in the ministry,  Dr. Nofiu Aigoro, said  government had done a lot to ensure a successful measles campaign in the state, admonishing all to mobilize people in their various communities to benefit from the programme.

    In their separate remarks, the State Coordinator, World Health Organisation, Dr.  Mejebi Phillips and the representative, National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Hajia Binta Kura, lauded the state government efforts towards the vaccination exercise.

     

  • ‘Nigeria loses 800,000 children due to lack of immunisation’

    ‘Nigeria loses 800,000 children due to lack of immunisation’

    The Global Alliance for Vaccine and Immunisation ( GAVI ) on Thursday said no fewer than 800,000 unvaccinated children had died in Nigeria in the last five years.

    Dr Seth Berkley, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GAVI, made this known during a stakeholders meeting in Suleja, Niger.

    GAVI is a public-private global health partnership committed to increasing access to immunisation through provision of vaccines across the globe.

    Berkley who said a recent survey had revealed that Nigeria had only 30 per cent coverage of immunization added that the figure differed from what some health workers had always presented.

    The CEO said that children unnecessarily died because they were not vaccinated, pointing out that his organisation was working hard to strengthen routine immunisation in the country.

    He said that lack of children’s access to routine vaccination caused outbreak of diseases such as monkey-pox, Lassa fever, measles, meningitis and yellow fever.

    According to him, government and other stakeholders must work hand-in-hand to accelerate and strengthen routine immunisation.

    Berkley noted that traditional ruler could help in ensuring children access to vaccination because they were close to the people.

    The chief executive officer of GAVI decried non usage of vaccine being provided by his organisation for immunization in some quarters.

    “If we supply vaccines and people do not go to the health centres to take them, the essence of providing such will be defeated.” he said.

    Dr Faisal Shuaibthe, Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency, said it was imperative for the country to do the right thing and ensure all her children were immunised.

    Shuaib said that how well leaders provided health care to their people determined the future of the children in such communities.

    He tasked local governments and traditional rulers to supervise and monitor the activities of primary health care facilities in their areas.

    The executive director disclosed that his agency had designed a template to monitor and evaluate immunisation quarterly to ensure improvement on current situation.

    He said the National Emergency Routine Immunisation Centre had been established to strengthen routine vaccination in the country.

    Reacting, the Emir of Suleja, Muhammad-Awwal Ibrahim, pledged commitment of traditional rulers in the state to tackle the challenges facing vaccination of children.

    Ibrahim said that immunisation must be taken seriously to prevent children from dying unnecessarily.

    “We, the traditional rulers have the passion to do what is expected of us to tackle our health challenges” he said.

    NAN

  • UNICEF, WHO to vaccinate over 2 million children in Borno, Yobe

    UNICEF, WHO to vaccinate over 2 million children in Borno, Yobe

    Over two million children are expected to be vaccinated against the children killer diseases within Borno and Yobe with the support of WHO, UNICEF and other development partners working in the states.

    In Borno State, the State Ministry of Health with the development partnership is to vaccinate more than 1.2 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) across 57 wards in 25 Local Government Areas in Borno State, while Yobe State is to vaccinate a total of 771,778 children between the ages of 1-6 years against Cerecbro Spinal Meningitis.

    According to Dr. Chima Onuekwe, Health Communication/Promotion Officer WHO, more than 3,000 WHO-trained volunteers, including senior supervisors, monitors, healthcare workers and community leaders, will immunize1.2 million IDPs aged from 9 months to 45 years at designated health facilities. The campaign began on 5 February, and is expected to continue until14 February.

    Dr. Chima was also quoted as saying that, UNICEF supported the Borno State Government with logistics for vaccine distribution and social mobilization. Through the deployment of over 2,000 community volunteers and key influencers, UNICEF enhanced community engagement for yellow fever preventive vaccination and ensured that community is aware of the campaign and yellow fever risks.

    “If we miss out on children of Borno, often living in very difficult conditions, we deprive large number of children of lifesaving vaccines. It is not only their right but our collective duty to ensure that they survive and thrive,” said Mohammed Fall, UNICEF Nigeria Representative.

    To ensure a high-quality campaign, WHO worked with the Borno State Ministry of Health to coordinate and facilitate the training of healthcare workers at all levels, arrange logistics for vaccine distribution and deliver messages on health risks to communities.

    “Although Borno State has not reported an outbreak of yellow fever this year, vaccinating internally displaced persons is an exercise of high public health importance to protect most-at-risk populations living in high-risk conditions and prevent the spread of yellow fever, if an outbreak occurs,” said Dr. Wondimagegnehu Alemu, WHO Nigeria Representative.

     

    The Borno State Honourable Commissioner for Health, Dr. Haruna Mshelia, emphasized the   importance of vaccinating IDPs in camps and host communities.

    “The vulnerable living conditions of millions of people in Borno State and the tide of outbreaks across 16 States in Nigeria make it imperative to target the most-at-risk people with yellow fever vaccination in the State.”

    These efforts are part of a larger yellow fever vaccination campaign that seeks to vaccinate more than 25 million people throughout 2018, in the largest yellow fever vaccination drive in Nigeria’s history. This fits into a wider public health goal to eliminate yellow fever epidemics globally by 2026 through the Eliminate Yellow fever Epidemics (EYE) Strategy, steered by WHO, Gavi and UNICEF.

    In Yobe State, the state is embarking on a massive vaccination and enlightenment   campaign against Cerecbro Spinal Meningitis as the heat period sets.

    The commissioner of Health in the State Dr. Bello Kawuwa said a total of “771,778 children would be vaccinated”, adding that, “it will be conducted at health centres and designated fixed posts. The exercise is staggered into two phases; the first phase which encompasses 8 LGAs begins today, Wednesday 7th to 11th of February 2018, while the second phase in 9 LGAs commences on 14th , 10th , 18th of February 2018”.

    Dr. Kawuwa also disclosed that Yobe is the only state that secured a golden opportunity to implement the MenAfric vaccination campaign across all her local Government Areas, stressing that, “some states are implementing outbreak response only in the most affected LGAs”.

    He urged parents and caregivers to ensure that all children of the age category are immunized regardless of their immunization status.

     

  • WHO embarks on yellow fever vaccination in Borno

    WHO embarks on yellow fever vaccination in Borno

    The World Health Organisation ( WHO ) says it will commence vaccination against yellow fever in Borno as part of effort toward eliminating the disease in the country.

    Field Communication Officer of the organisation, Mr Chima Omiekwe, who disclosed this to newsmen on Friday in Maiduguri, said the campaign would commence on Tuesday and end on Feb. 14, 2019.

    Omiekwe said that the exercise would be conducted in 288 political wards across the 25 local government areas in the state.

    He explained that the campaign was aimed at reducing yellow fever transmission in line with the strategy to eliminate Yellow Fever in 2026.

    He said that the target groups were between nine months to 45 years, especially among Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).

    Omiekwe said that no fewer than 3,000 health workers, opinion leaders, community leaders and primary teachers would be involved in the process, particularly in surveillance.

    Read Also: Lassa fever: Three died in Taraba – WHO

    According to him, the surveillance component will enable stakeholders to rapidly detect, investigate and respond to any suspected or confirmed case of yellow fever.

    “The first phase of the campaign will be conducted in some designated camps and host communities in Jere, Konduga, MMC and Mafa councils.

    “We are focusing on the IDPs because of the risk assessment in camps. As you know, a lot of these IDPs are living in bad sanitary conditions.

    “They are living in an environment that is prone to diseases,” he said.

    He stated that about one million doses of vaccine would be administered during the period.

  • NEC okays N3.5b for routine vaccination

    The National Economic Council (NEC) yesterday approved N3.5 billion to facilitate routine immunisation against communicable diseases in the country.

    Apart from the outbreak of monkey pox, the country is also faced with challenges of yellow fever, measles, polio and chicken pox, among others.

    Abia State Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, Kebbi State Governor Atiku Bagudu and Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki briefed State House reporters at the end of the meeting chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

    Ikpeazu said the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar III, briefed NEC and reiterated the commitment of the traditional institution to the eradication of polio.

    He explained that NEC, which was satisfied with the Sultan’s presentation, urged state governments to honour their counterpart funding to achieve an appreciable impact.

    Minister of Health Prof. Isaac Adewole also briefed the council on health situation in the country. He debunked rumours that the military was vaccinating citizens with monkey pox virus.

    “The rumour is unfounded; there is nothing like that. It was designed to create bad blood,” he said.

    Obaseki said the council was briefed on preparations for measles vaccination ahead of the 2017/2018 dry season.

    According to him, this is the period associated with outbreak of measles in the country.

    The Edo State governor said vaccination against measles will hold in the North from October 26 to March 20, 2018.

    According to him, 12 states of Bayelsa, Borno, Edo, Imo, Kaduna, Kano, Kebbi, Nasarawa, Osun, Sokoto and Zamfara had paid their counterpart funds, while 24 are yet to redeem their payment.

    Minister of State for Trade and Investment Aisha Abubakar said NEC also approved the setting up of a sub-committee, comprising governors from each state of the six geo-political zones, to hasten industrialisation in the country.

    The government, through the Nigeria Industrial Policy Competitive Advisory Council (NIPCAC), has been pursuing the implementation of eight key issues requiring urgent resolution to achieve the economic feat.

    Members of the sub-committee are governors of Kaduna, Kwara, Adamawa, Ogun, Edo and Abia States.  The Kaduna State Governor will chair the committee.

    The Kebbi State governor said the Director-General of NEMA briefed council on the flood situation since the 2012 flood disaster in the country. He told the council that the Federal Government released N1.6 billion for flood relief, which will be used for intervention in the affected states.

    On the current flood situation in the country, the DG informed the council that nine states – Benue, Kebbi, Ekiti, Kogi, Edo, Ondo, Sokoto, Niger and Enugu – have so far benefitted from relief interventions.

    Other States affected by the 2017 flood, he said, will receive relief materials in the coming weeks.

    Minister of Finance Kemi Adeosun also briefed the council on the Excess Crude Account (ECA) and the Budget Support Loan Facility to states.

    She informed the council that the balance in the ECA as at October 16, 2017 stands at $2,309,636,457.88 billion.

    The Accountant General of the Federation also briefed the council on the current balances in the Stabilization Fund Account and the Natural Resources Development Fund.

    He told the council that the balance in the Stabilization Fund Account as at October 16, 207 is N5,853,204,804.11 billion, adding that the balance in the Natural Resources Development Account as at October 16, 2017 is N93,114,896,509.12 billion.

  • Kwara vaccinates 200,000 people in three days

    Kwara vaccinates 200,000 people in three days

    The Kwara Government said on Monday that no fewer than 200,000 people have been vaccinated within three days of the ongoing yellow fever reactive vaccination in the state.

    Dr Sulaiman Alege, the Commissioner for Health, who gave the figure to newsmen in Ilorin, said 960,000 doses of the vaccine would be administered in nine communities in the state.

    “The vaccination is taking place in Ifelodun Local Government and eight others, comprising Isin, Ilorin South, Ilorin East, Irepodun, Oke-Ero and others.

    “About 960,000 vaccines has been deployed, and for now, we have immunised close to 200,000 people in the first three days,” he said.

    The commissioner described the turnout as impressive, saying that people were massively mobilised through the use of town criers and community informants.

    Read Also: ‘No monkey pox in Kwara’

    He said that the health education unit of the ministry was also on ground, to ensure efficient participation.

    Alege said that the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and National Health Care Development Agency team had visited some of the communities to monitor the exercise.

    According to him, the state government remains committed to ensuring good health for its citizens.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the vaccination would last for 10 days.