Rivers
Embrace Measles Vaccination, Health Educator Urges Mothers
Ahead of the forthcoming round of measles vaccination scheduled to hold from the 12th to 18th of October, a Health Educator, Dr. Diana Babbo, has called on mothers to ensure that their children and wards are vaccinated.
Dr. Babbo, who is the Health Educator, Rivers State Primary Health Care Management Board, said women, particularly those who may have missed the last round of vaccination, would need to take advantage of the opportunity.
“We’re saying that any mother that has possibly missed one of her doses can just walk in, show us her card, we will first look through, and give the child whatever the missed opportunity, of which vaccine”, she said.
Babbo, who made the call while speaking to newsmen on the sideline of a media parley, continued that, “we are also saying that there’re some women that have not given their children any vaccine at all. So long as the child is in that 1 to 5 years bracket, and have not been given any vaccine, we’re combing them out, and we’re starting them on our schedule”.
She noted that while vaccines are for vaccine-preventable illnesses, it has been found that less mothers are continuously embracing vaccination and immunization.
Consequently, she said, “we are seeing all the illnesses that had we won the battle against coming back: polio, whooping cough, yellow fever, measles are all back, and they’re causing a lot of havoc in our communities.
“So, we’re saying let mothers begin to have trust again in our vaccination and immunization”.
She also used the opportunity to call on the media to be a viable ally in creating adequate awareness on the forthcoming round of vaccination and immunization, by providing avenues for more robust media sensitisation.
The categories of children to be vaccinated, she said, are “nine months to five years: those that are in creches 1, 2, and Primary 1 and 2”, while the vaccination is for measles, Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), and routine immunization.
The HPV is for young girls within the ages of 9 to 14 years, who are not yet sexually active, but are exposed to the virus.
Also speaking, the Chairperson, Media Advocacy for Health, Rivers State, Mrs. Jenewari Utomi, urged journalists on effective reportage of health-related issues, particularly those on women and children.
“As Journalists, we constitute a vital arm of stakeholders in the quest to achieve effective and accessible health care delivery in the state, and the nation at large. One way that we can achieve this goal is through our reportage”, she said.
Sogbeba Dokubo