The head of local government administration and Acting Chairman of Akoko Edo local government area, Dr Innocent Alenoghena has flagged off the November/ December 2022 integrated measles campaign exercise at Igarra, the local government headquarters.
Speaking at the ceremony the local government boss said that the importance of routine immunisation on the lives of children as the future leaders of tomorrow cannot be overemphasized.
The Holga who commended the director of primary health care (DPHC), and Edo north monitor on covid-19 for keeping the local government abreast on the journey thus far noted, “I want to thank Dr Iraoya for intimating us with the achievement of the LG. I want to let you know that I am happy with the results of our local council. This is why I must bugga”.
While stating that the achievement were enormous he said, “This achievement are great. In all, the other 17 LG’s in the state are looking up to us. We are already overwhelmed with joy until the last one which I will call the icing of the cake when our own monitoring and evaluation officer iced the cake for us with the new award.
But like the saying goes, the more you perform, the more work that is given to you.
“The idea of these campaign is to make sure that children do not contract measles hence it is intended for a specific age bracket that is eligible.
Measles cause hearing impairment, cerebral problem in the inability to think well resulting in dullness and sight challenges or outright blindness”
He noted that the Governor was very passionate about the wellness of children, stressing that no child should miss out from the exercise to be able to tame all incidence of measles outbreak in the locality.
“The additional good thing about this exercise is that since 19th of this month, health teams had begun the administration of ROTA vaccine. This is special to prevent vomiting, diahoria from our children.”
He enjoined teachers not to be tired of mentoring and caring for children stating that it was the only way to guarantee a formidable future for them.
Speaking on the importance of the ceremony, the director of primary health care and Edo north monitor on covid-19, Dr Iraoya Howics, held that the Primary Healthcare Centres across the LGA will be integrated to achieve the desired results
He explained that the programme will be delivered through two strategies of fixed post involving all the health centres and temporary fixed post which would include schools, markets, churches and mosques for the attainment of a wider coverage.
On his part, the state technical facilitator, Pastor Odutola Abiodun, disclosed that measles is a very dangerous childhood disease, and commended the state for its proactive stance on periodic administration of the programme which he described as ‘preventive measure’
“The last time this programme was held all over Nigeria was in 2016 and it was supposed to be held every two years, but due to so many factors, it has been delayed till now”
He further disclosed that the exercise was being held in seventeen states in the southern part of the country noting that Edo was divided into two phases adding, “Phase one involves seven local government of Edo South while phase two is involving nine local government of Edo central and North.
Present at the event were school heads, representative of the traditional institutions, security agencies, council chieftains among others.
