By CHARLES IWUOHA

The Enugu State Government has appealed to mothers and caregivers in the state to ensure that they immunise their children against measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases.

Executive Secretary, Enugu State Primary Health Care Development Agency (ENS-PHCDA), Dr George Ugwu, made the call at a sensitisation meeting with the media on measles and COVID-19 awareness campaign in Enugu at the weekend.

He said the call had become imperative as the yearly season when measles outbreak usually hit the country (October to March) drew close.

Ugwu noted that all state-owned health facilities, especially the Primary Healthcare Centres (PHC) across the communities had been functional, notwithstanding the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic.

He said: “The PHC facilities did not close for a single day during the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We have done much work on COVID-19 at the PHC level to ensure that the workers and the rural people attending to these PHC facilities are well protected and health services delivery is not hindered for fear of the virus.

“We started with virtual meetings and recently there has been step-down training on COVID-19 case definition, protection and what PHC workers and community volunteers are expected to do if anyone comes with suspected symptoms of the virus.

“Last week, the state government, through ENS-PHCDA, distributed basic Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) directly to each of the Officer-in-Charge of the PHC facilities in the state.

“All these moves were to ensure that health services are not hindered in the PHC facilities and the workers are well-equipped to continue their routine,’’ he said.

Ugwu said that all the measures taken by government were to check community-transmission of the virus and ensure that health services, especially the routine immunization against child-killer diseases continued unhindered.

He urged the media to partner the government to disseminate health information and orientate the residents especially mothers/caregivers to ensure that their children are immunised and protected.

“The media are critical stakeholders in the success of our fight against COVID-19 and mobilisation of our mothers/caregivers to visit the PHC centres to get their children immunised,” he added.

Earlier, Mr. Fabian Nebo, the Public Relations Officer of ENS-PHCDA, gave an overview of the measles infection situation in the state and the roles of stakeholders in ensuring that the disease was kicked out of the state.

“We are mobilising all stakeholders at state and community levels, including traditional rulers, religious leaders, teachers and youths, to ensure that our children, especially those under five, get these free vaccines,” he said.