By Ibrahim Sorie Koroma
Senior Health Education Officer – HEP/MoH
As the country continues to record more cases of Measles, the Ministry of Health in collaboration with its partners will embark on a nationwide measles-rubella vaccination campaign to reach all eligible children with the much-needed lifesaving vaccine.
The Manager of the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) Ministry of Health, Dr. Desmond Maada Kangbai said that the objective is to reach 95% of all eligible children aged 9 to 59 months with Measles-Rubella vaccine as well as reaching at least 95% of zero-dose children in communities with the MR vaccine in a nationwide vaccination campaign from Friday 28th June – Thursday 4th July 2024.
He also added that the overall goal is to improve vaccines uptake of measles-rubella and other routine vaccines among children 9 – 59 months, thereby improving routine immunization coverage.
Talking on the campaign strategy, Dr. Kangbai said that the strategy is that caregivers/parents of children 9 – 59 months are expected to take their eligible children to the nearest health facility for vaccination and temporary fixed outreach points in schools, markets, mosques and churches and any other points with high number of eligible children, reiterating that Social Mobilization and Communication is also part of the strategy to reach caregivers/parents and the public with key messages/information on the measles-rubella vaccination campaign to influence attitudes and increase vaccines uptake.
Giving the severity of the disease, Dr. Kangbai said that Measles is a highly infectious viral disease and is one of the leading causes of death among young children, adding that children who are not vaccinated are at highest risk of contracting measles.
The EPI Programme Manager said that measles causes 134, 200 deaths globally about 367 deaths every day or 15 deaths every hour.
He said that vaccination has resulted in 79% drop in measles deaths between 2000 and 2015 worldwide.
“Interestingly, in Sierra Leone the disease trend shows that Karene District, alone reported 143 cases which is the highest in 2024 and 302 cases cumulative cases reported in 10 districts including Karene in 2024, compared to 1,111 cases reported in the first 23 weeks of 2023,” Dr. Kangbai Stated.