Measles kills 14 children in Anambra

“Unfortunately, we recorded case fatalities. We lost about 14 children to the Measles outbreak out of 414 cases we had.

He said 19,609 unvaccinated children from age zero to 59 months had been vaccinated.

The commissioner said that the surrounding communities of the nine local government areas were also vaccinated to prevent the spread of the disease.

He identified the impact of COVID-19 which affected routine immunisation in the state in 2021 as the major reason for the outbreak.

“We also noticed that people living in clusters, poor environmental hygiene practices and poor uptake of vaccine were the other causes of the outbreak in the affected areas.

“We have contacted the Ministries  of Environment and Water Resources, to improve environmental hygiene and water supply in those affected areas.

“We will also intensify social mobilisation to encourage residents to receive vaccination. We have activated routine immunisation in the state to prevent future outbreaks,” he said.