Measles Outbreak Claims Lives Of 14 children in Anambra
Anambra State Ministry of Health says 14 children have died as a result of measles outbreak in nine local government areas of the state.
The Commissioner for Health, Dr Afam Obidike, disclosed this on Wednesday, at a Post Measles Outbreak Response news briefing in Awka.
The Commissioner revealed that that no fewer than 414 cases of measles were recorded in nine local government areas in the state.
According to him, the affected local government areas are Anambra East; Anambra West; Ayamelum; Ihiala; Idemili North; Nnewi North; Onitsha North; Njikoka, and Oyi.
Commissioner Obidike further informed that support from the World Health Organisation, WHO, and the United Nations Children Emergency Fund, UNICEF, helped the state to check the spread of the disease.
“In March, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, alerted us of Measles outbreak in nine LGAs in the state. We contacted the World Health Organisation, WHO, and the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, to assist us curtail further spread of the disease.
“The disease spread from nine LGAs to 13 LGAs but with the help of WHO, we swung into action and activated surveillance and our emergency response team in the affected LGAs and wards.
“Unfortunately, we recorded case fatalities. We lost about 14 children to the Measles outbreak out of 414 cases we had.
“It is something we need to be mindful of because the case fatality is high, about 48 per cent,” he said.
He said that as a measure to tackle the disease, a total of 19,609 unvaccinated children from age zero to 59 months had been vaccinated.
Commissioner Obidike also made it known that surrounding communities of the nine local government areas have also been vaccinated to prevent the spread of the disease.
He blamed the impact of COVID-19 which affected routine immunisation in the state in 2021 as the major reason for the outbreak.
“We also noticed that people living in clusters, poor environmental hygiene practices and poor uptake of vaccine were the other causes of the outbreak in the affected areas.
“We have contacted the Ministries of Environment and Water Resources, to improve environmental hygiene and water supply in those affected areas.
“We will also intensify social mobilisation to encourage residents to receive vaccination. We have activated routine immunisation in the state to prevent future outbreaks,” he said.
He posited that measles which is a viral infection common among children under five years, can easily be prevented through administration of doses of vaccine.
The Commissioner intimated that the measles spread through the air by respiratory droplets produced from coughing or sneezing, adding that the peak of the spread was usually during the dry season, around February, March and April.
Contributing, the Executive Secretary, Anambra State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr Chioma Ezenyimulu, also announced that plans were underway to commence a standalone measles vaccination campaign in the state.
She explained that the campaign would cover all the 21 local government areas of the state.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, had earlier, in March this year, announced the outbreak of measles in nine local government areas of Anambra State.
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