The National Surveillance Officer, World Health Organisation (WHO), Dr Irene Isibor has said most children in Nigeria still die from vaccine-preventable diseases due to people’s wrong attitude.
Isibor said this at the 19th Biennial Conference and Annual General Meeting of the Medical Women’s Association of Nigeria, held at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, Lagos with the theme: “Internally Displaced Persons, Health and Socio-economic Impact.”
She, however, urged Nigerians to develop the right attitudes to immunisation of their children against the child-killer diseases and stop all the myths attached to them.
Isibor said, “Everyday in 2015, 16,000 children under five years continue to die, mostly from preventable causes. Child survival must remain the focus of the post-2015 development agenda.
“The distribution of the estimated deaths among children under five years of age, from diseases that are preventable by vaccination in 2008 in Nigeria shows that measles accounts for 118, 000. Death from Neonatal tetanus-59,000, Tetanus (non-neonatal)-2,000, Pneumococcal disease- 476, 000, Rotavirus- 453,000, Pertussis- 195,000, and Hib-199,000.”
Isibor said that immunisation was one of the most successful public health initiatives, noting that there was a need to fully embrace and implement it.
According to her, the number of children under five years dying every year as of today has reduced to 6.3 million from 12.7 million in 1990 due to administration of vaccines.
Credit: DailyTimes
