Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://www.tribune.com.ng/25122008/thr/hlt3.html
?Why Nigeria has failed to reduce increasing cases of measles, polio?
By Sade Oguntola - updated: Thursday 25-12-2008
A medical expert,Professor Festus
Adu said it was important that Nigeria urgently revisits the national measles vaccination schedule with the sole aim of introducing a two-doses schedule to prevent the endemic transmission of measles.
Professor Adu, in an inaugural lecture titled, ?That Our Children Will Not Die? he gave at the University of Ibadan, said this had become necessary considering that the low routine vaccination coverage and quality of the mass immunization campaign which he said was not high enough, as well as the persistent measles outbreaks with its high mortality and morbidity.
?The disease has remained the fifth leading cause of death among children less than five years old worldwide and it accounts for 44 per cent of total death due to vaccine-preventable disease among children less than 15 years, the highest mortality occurring in poor communities with malnutrition, overcrowding and low vaccination coverage.
While declaring as unacceptable Nigeria?s high infant mortality rate inspite of the availability of vaccines to prevent most infectious disease that still kill children, Prof. Adu said the need for introducing a two-dose schedule to prevent measles was because the antibody the mother passed on to the baby against the measles virus tend to wane fast even before the first dose of measles vaccine. Also, the antibody the newborn baby received from the mother is not strong enough to neutralize the wild type of measles virus in circulation.
?In a study done, it was found that 58 per cent of Nigerian children will lose their protective measles maternal antibodies by the age of four months while only 3 per cent are protected between the ages of six and nine months,? he declared.
To this end, Prof. Adu emphasised that if Nigerian children are not to die unnecessarily from vaccine preventable diseases, the mechanism to improve the quality and raise the level of routine immunization must be put in place immediately, stressing? the emergence of circulating vaccine-derived polioviruses, a rare strain of polio virus genetically changed from the original strain contained in the oral polio vaccine is an indication that far too many children remain unvaccinated or under-immunised.?
Prof Adu further recommended that higher budgetary allocation for health and education, regular supply of vaccines, strengthening of routine immunization and immunisation be made a compulsory entry requirement for educational institutions as well as the establishment of a biological production institute for production of disease diagnostic kits.
?Why Nigeria has failed to reduce increasing cases of measles, polio?
By Sade Oguntola - updated: Thursday 25-12-2008
A medical expert,Professor Festus
Adu said it was important that Nigeria urgently revisits the national measles vaccination schedule with the sole aim of introducing a two-doses schedule to prevent the endemic transmission of measles.
Professor Adu, in an inaugural lecture titled, ?That Our Children Will Not Die? he gave at the University of Ibadan, said this had become necessary considering that the low routine vaccination coverage and quality of the mass immunization campaign which he said was not high enough, as well as the persistent measles outbreaks with its high mortality and morbidity.
?The disease has remained the fifth leading cause of death among children less than five years old worldwide and it accounts for 44 per cent of total death due to vaccine-preventable disease among children less than 15 years, the highest mortality occurring in poor communities with malnutrition, overcrowding and low vaccination coverage.
While declaring as unacceptable Nigeria?s high infant mortality rate inspite of the availability of vaccines to prevent most infectious disease that still kill children, Prof. Adu said the need for introducing a two-dose schedule to prevent measles was because the antibody the mother passed on to the baby against the measles virus tend to wane fast even before the first dose of measles vaccine. Also, the antibody the newborn baby received from the mother is not strong enough to neutralize the wild type of measles virus in circulation.
?In a study done, it was found that 58 per cent of Nigerian children will lose their protective measles maternal antibodies by the age of four months while only 3 per cent are protected between the ages of six and nine months,? he declared.
To this end, Prof. Adu emphasised that if Nigerian children are not to die unnecessarily from vaccine preventable diseases, the mechanism to improve the quality and raise the level of routine immunization must be put in place immediately, stressing? the emergence of circulating vaccine-derived polioviruses, a rare strain of polio virus genetically changed from the original strain contained in the oral polio vaccine is an indication that far too many children remain unvaccinated or under-immunised.?
Prof Adu further recommended that higher budgetary allocation for health and education, regular supply of vaccines, strengthening of routine immunization and immunisation be made a compulsory entry requirement for educational institutions as well as the establishment of a biological production institute for production of disease diagnostic kits.