Measles: 100 dead, 21,000 affected across Northeast Nigeria in seven months.

States in the North East part of Nigeria recorded no fewer than 21,011 cases of measles with 100 deaths in the past few months.

A survey by News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) indicated that while cases were recorded in Bauchi, Borno, Yobe and Gombe states, officials in Adamawa and Jigawa said no such cases were recorded in their states.

In Borno, where the highest number of cases was recorded, officials said security challenges in the state made it difficult to address the situation.

The Director of Borno State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Sule Mele, said 18,204 measles cases were recorded in the state from January till date, with 93 deaths, mostly children.

He attributed the outbreak of the disease to inability of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) to access healthcare services due to the ongoingconflict between security forces and Boko Haram insurgents.

Mr Mele, a medical doctor, noted that there was high prevalence of the disease in ‘trapped’ communities due to the lack of access to vaccination.

He added that the lack of access to crisis-prone areas was a major obstaclemilitating against effective response to the disease.

According to him, the primary healthcare agency has, however, scaled up activities to enhance surveillance, case management, laboratory services, social mobilisation and vaccination in some affected areas in spite of the challenges.

He said “We were able to conduct reactive vaccination for children between the ages of nine and 18 months in the affected areas.

“Arrangements are on for the conduct of a country-wide measles response to enhance coverage of the routine immunisation in communitiesand IDPs’ camps.’’

Yobe, another flash-point of conflicts between security agents and theinsurgents, recorded 2,675 cases of measles, with seven deaths, the acting Disease Surveillance and Notification Officer (DSNO), Haruna Umaru, in the state said.

He said that “from January 2019 till June 2019, we received reports of 2,675cases of measles, with seven deaths from the 17 local government areas in thestate.

He, however, added that the situation had been controlled by the Rapid ResponseTeams.