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Vaccination still remains the cheapest form of immunization against childhood killer diseases.

The Federal Government on Tuesday flagged off the 2017/2018 National Measles Campaign, which aims to vaccinate over 33 million Nigerian children against the disease.

The Executive Director of National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr. Faisal Shuaib, who announced this in a statement released on Monday, said the Minister of State for Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, will flag off the campaign in Kaduna State.

Mr. Shuaib said 33 million Nigerian children aged nine to 59 months are to be immunized against measles by the end of the campaign.

Related Article: Infectious diseases, still responsible for under-five deaths globally

He said that Nigeria`s aim is to reach 95 percent in the 2017/2018 campaign, against the 84.5 percent coverage attained in the 2015 campaign.

The measles vaccine would be administered to children at health centers, fixed health posts, churches, mosques, motor parks, public places, schools and homes.

Timeline

• The North-west campaign will run from November 9 to 21
• The North-east will run from November 30 to December 12
• The North-central will run from February 1-20, 2018
• The Southern part of the country from March 8 to 20, 2018

A UNICEF survey earlier revealed that measles among children under the age of five increased more than two-fold in Northern Nigeria between 2014 and 2016.

Link: The AlertClinic Disease Control Technology

A report published by WHO has shown that Nigeria topped the list of countries with unvaccinated children from measles with 3.3 million children, followed by India – 2.9 million, Pakistan – 2.0 million, Indonesia – 1.2 million, Ethiopia – 0.9 million and Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC, with 0.7 million.

To curtail the spread of the disease and prevent death of children under five, the federal government released N3.5 billion for vaccination programme and the 2017/2018 nationwide measles campaign

Vaccination still remains the cheapest form of immunization against childhood killer diseases.

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