By NewsDesk @bactiman63
The World Health Organization (WHO) announced today that more than 690,000 children aged 6 – 59 months were vaccinated since the second phase of the measles follow up campaign commenced a little over a week ago.
The campaign was led by South Sudan health officials in concert with global health agencies.
More than 6,000 trained vaccinators are carrying out the campaign using facility-based services to reach all eligible children no matter where they live.
Since the beginning of the year, 1,115 measles cases and 10 deaths have been reported in South Sudan, with all cases being in children under five years of age.
Immunizing all children against measles can eliminate measles as a cause of death. This can only be possible if population immunity was kept at more than 95 % over long periods through routine immunization and supplementary activities.
“The commitment of health workers to reach as many children as possible amid the COVID-19 pandemic and severe flooding is really to be commended”, said Dr Olushayo Olu, WHO Representative for South Sudan. “The implementation of vaccination campaigns is a strong opportunity to reach children with life-saving interventions”.
Since July 2020, severe flooding in South Sudan has forced nearly 1 million people to flee their homes and increases the risk of measles cases with the potential for explosive outbreaks in the congested camps.
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