Health
The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) has advocated for deliberate policies to save the lives of Nigerians from Yellow fever.
Mrs Margaret Soyemi, the UNICEF Communications and Development Officer, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Abuja.
Soyemi fielded questions at the end of its 5-day Yellow fever sensitisation/preventive mass vaccination training in Abuja.
She emphasised that efforts at saving millions of Nigerian citizens from outbreak of Yellow fever must be deliberate.
“Yellow fever is a deadly disease, which ravishes tropical and Sub-tropical areas such as South America and Africa, including Nigeria.
“The fight against the disease must be deliberate, purposeful and holistic to save millions of people in Nigeria hence the synergy between UNICEF and the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCD,’’ she said.
The UNICEF official warned against the spread of the disease if nothing drastic was done by all and sundry, especially community, traditional and religious leaders, who are also stakeholders in the fight.
According to her, NPHCD in Conjunction with UNICEF targets 18.6 million people in five states and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) of Nigeria in the forthcoming Nov. 22 vaccination campaign.
She said that the most effective way of eradicating the disease was to prevent its outbreak through mass vaccination across the disease prone areas or reported areas such as Kebbi, Kogi, Niger, Plateau, Sokoto and Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The communication officer lamented the non-production of Yellow fever vaccines in Nigeria.
According to her, “we have about 20 million doses of the Yellow fever vaccines for the 2018 vaccination exercise scheduled for Nov. 22 – Dec. 1’’.
She stated that the fight against the epidemic must be a continuous one until the disease was completely eradicated in Nigeria.
She stated that the targeted groups for this year’s vaccination campaign were from age nine months to 44 years, as the disease knows no age limit as it kills both young and old.
The UNICEF official also called on everyone to take the fight serious for us to succeed in eradicating the disease in the country, reduce the death rate and increase long life for socio-economic development of the nation. (NAN)
– Nov. 2, 2018 @ 16:55 GMT |
Tags: Yellow fever: UNICEF advocates deliberate policy to save Nigerian lives
