Kano — An ongoing measles outbreak, which
killed 36 children and infected over 4,000 in northern Nigeria between
16 February and 9 March, has been linked to a drop-off in immunizations
due to vaccine shortages in regional health clinics and widespread
suspicion of the vaccine, say government health officials.
Many parents have declined to vaccinate their children against measles as they believe the vaccine is harmful, according to Ado Mohammed, director-general of Nigeria's National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA).
"Parents are largely to blame... for their refusal to have their children immunized against preventable diseases including measles due to unfounded suspicion that such vaccines are harmful to children, following persistent rumours that polio vaccine causes infertility in children," he told IRIN.
Distrust of vaccines has grown as parents often do not differentiate between the polio vaccine and other immunizations, according to Mohammed. The 12 states affected by the measles outbreak mirror those where polio is endemic and where resistance against the polio vaccine is highest.
Kano State has reported over 1,000 measles cases, and Katsina State 1,260.
Nigeria's junior health minister, Ali Pate, agrees (as did Kano State's health commissioner Abubakar Labaran Yusuf, and Katsina health commissioner Hussaini Yammama): "The measles outbreak is a direct consequence of parents refusing to immunize their children," he said, adding: "Measles is a disease that is 99 percent preventable."
Following incremental progress on reducing resistance to polio vaccine campaigns, on 8 January 2013 gunmen killed 10 polio vaccinators in separate attacks on two polio clinics in Kano two days after a radio station aired a programme which discussed suspicion of the polio vaccine.
Measles is a highly contagious viral respiratory tract infection that infects over 20 million people - most of them children - each year. It can be fatal if not treated quickly.
Symptoms include high fever, coughing and skin rashes. Some 158,000 people, most of them children under five, died of measles in 2011, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Many parents have declined to vaccinate their children against measles as they believe the vaccine is harmful, according to Ado Mohammed, director-general of Nigeria's National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA).
"Parents are largely to blame... for their refusal to have their children immunized against preventable diseases including measles due to unfounded suspicion that such vaccines are harmful to children, following persistent rumours that polio vaccine causes infertility in children," he told IRIN.
Distrust of vaccines has grown as parents often do not differentiate between the polio vaccine and other immunizations, according to Mohammed. The 12 states affected by the measles outbreak mirror those where polio is endemic and where resistance against the polio vaccine is highest.
Kano State has reported over 1,000 measles cases, and Katsina State 1,260.
Nigeria's junior health minister, Ali Pate, agrees (as did Kano State's health commissioner Abubakar Labaran Yusuf, and Katsina health commissioner Hussaini Yammama): "The measles outbreak is a direct consequence of parents refusing to immunize their children," he said, adding: "Measles is a disease that is 99 percent preventable."
Following incremental progress on reducing resistance to polio vaccine campaigns, on 8 January 2013 gunmen killed 10 polio vaccinators in separate attacks on two polio clinics in Kano two days after a radio station aired a programme which discussed suspicion of the polio vaccine.
Measles is a highly contagious viral respiratory tract infection that infects over 20 million people - most of them children - each year. It can be fatal if not treated quickly.
Symptoms include high fever, coughing and skin rashes. Some 158,000 people, most of them children under five, died of measles in 2011, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
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