The campaign, which starts on May 23rd to 27th May, will be integrated with other child survival services like Vitamin A supplements, de-worming and routine immunisation services.
During the exercise, children aged 9-months to 5 years old, will received Measles and Rubella vaccine, while children aged 6 months to 5 years will receive vitamin A supplementation. Also, the exercise will distribute de-worming tablets for 1 to 5 years old children as well as routine vaccine for children aged 0 to 5 years old.
Welcoming the gathering at a media briefing held on Thursday, Micheal M. Mendy, acting Director for Health Promotion and Education at the Directorate of Health Promotion at the Ministry of Health, underscored the importance of the forthcoming vaccination campaign, saying the participation of the public at all levels is very vital.
“In order to strengthen the participation of people at all levels, we need to inform as people need to know what we are about to embark on.”
He acknowledged that briefing the media is one of the most important stages of the campaign, acknowledging that Measles/Rubella campaign is not a new exercise in the country.
Director Mendy reminded that just some seven months ago, they embarked on a similar campaign, but the coverage fell short below their target coverage.
This, he added, prompted the ministry and partners to embark on another round of vaccination targeting twelve districts in the country.
Sidat Fofana, programme director on Expanded Programme and Immunization (EPI) at the Ministry of Health, reminded that countries around the globe have made considerable gains in eradicating polio, adding that it is the same commitment that the world is making in eradicating measles.
The, exercise, he added, is to respond to the current measles outbreak in the country and to strengthen routine immunisation services in The Gambia.
He reminded that eradicating a disease of this magnitude is not easy, thus the involvement of all partners to totally eradicate it. “It is a deadly disease we all know and so government alone cannot do it to eliminate it.”
The outbreak of covid-19, he acknowledged, has brought along some tremendous challenges socially, culturally and the worst affected area is the daily health services: promotive, preventive and curative.
Fofana indicated that during the first campaign the coverage was very low due to the pandemic and that it was the lowest coverage ever in a campaign in the country.
He reminded that they used to have successful campaigns when administering vaccines on children and confirmed the vaccines are very safe and immunises one from disease.
This is to respond to the current measles outbreak in the country where we registered confirmed laboratory cases across the country, most of whom are under-fives. Another reason is to strengthen routine immunisation services in the Gambia.
