Kogi state government official, Hajia Ismail Ahmad, has lamented that health cases about measles are under-reported in the country. She said measles doesn’t have a cure but it is preventable.
Ahmad, Maternal Child Health Focal Person, Kogi State Primary Health Care Development Agency, said the state government has put precautionary measures in place to curtail the spread of the disease.
She, however, called for collective effort to prevent and avert the spread of measles in Kogi State.
She confirmed 52 cases of measles across the 21 local government areas of the state.
Ahmad disclosed this at a one-day stakeholders meeting on integrated measles campaign in Kogi State held in Lokoja on Thursday.
Ahmad said Kogi State has 147 cases of measles recording zero death, 47.3% males, and 52.7 percent females.
According to her, the latest World Health Organization (WHO) data related to measles cases and death shows an estimated 6.7 million as of 2017 with around 110,000 measles related deaths globally based on the 173,330 reported cases.
She described measles as a viral infection that affects the respiratory system and is extremely contagious and has affected many children in the world.
Earlier in his remarks, the executive director, Kogi State Primary Health Care Development Agency (PHCDA), Dr Abubakar Yakubu admonished parents to avail their children towards the intake of vaccine against measles.
Yakubu explained that all hands must be on deck to ensure that measles do not gain ground in Kogi State.
Represented by the Director of Administration, Ijalija Okpanachi David, the executive director admonished the media to drive the measles vaccine campaign down to the grassroots.
He pointed out that measles is a deadly airborne disease that needs aggressive campaigns to reduce the spread and death rate in the country.
The state nutrition officer, Abdulazeez Usman, noted that the agency has deemed it necessary to ensure that the campaign is integrated across board.
Representative of the World Health Organization (WHO), Oguche Wilson, said the nature in which measles spread calls for concern across the globe stressing that all stakeholders must join hands with the government to ensure that Kogi State is free from the deadly measles disease.
