Children to be immunised against measles

Friday, October 22, 2010
CHILDREN between nine months and five years throughout the country will be immunised against measles from November 3 to November 6, 2010 under the National Campaign Against Measles.
Children within that age group will also be given Vitamin A capsules to make them strong and immune against certain diseases.
Measles is a dangerous disease, which kills children. It is caused by a small germ called the measles virus.
Signs and symptoms of measles include fever, skin rashes, runny nose and cough. Some complications of the disease are diarrhoea, brain damage, pneumonia, eye infection/blindness, and sores in the mouth. If not well treated, the disease could also lead to the death of an affected child.
As part of the campaign, the Greater Accra Regional Health Directorate has organised a stakeholders’ meeting to solicit support for successful exercise in the region.
Participants were media personnel and representatives of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Ghana Health Service, Ghana Education Service, Ghana Police Service, Coalition of NGOs in Health, National Association of Private Schools, National Population Council and the Greater Accra Regional Co-ordinating Council (RCC).
Addressing the participants, the Greater Accra Regional Deputy Director in charge of Public Health, Dr Edward Antwi, said during the period, immunisation centres would be created within the communities, where children could be sent for the vaccines, adding that the vaccine was the same as the one which had been used over the years and proven to be safe.
He said a total of 657,352 children were expected to be immunised during the period and advised parents to send their children to immunisations centres for the vaccination irrespective of whether they had received previous doses or not.
In her presentation, the Head of Health Promotion Unit of the Regional Health Directorate, Ms Honesty Numetu, said mass measles campaigns were organised each year to vaccinate large numbers of children within a short period to prevent measles outbreaks and also break transmission, if any.
She said during the period, measles vaccination was given as an injection on the child’s left upper arm by a trained health worker.
Ms Numetu said to ensure its safety, a new vaccine needle and syringe would be used for every child and, thereafter, destroyed automatically.
She, however, said some children might react to the vaccine and some of the common reactions included fever, pain at the site of the injection, redness and swelling at the site of the injection and rashes.
She, therefore, advised parents to send any child who presented any of such symptoms to the nearest health facility for proper assessment and management.