Lions Club partners health workers to fight measles

TO take the National Measles Immunization programme to every doorstep in Lagos and its environs, International Association of Lions Club in collaboration with the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Lagos State government and all Lions in the southern part of Nigeria recently staged a five-day campaign, which ran from January 28 to February 1, 2016.

Aimed at sensitising the public of the armful effects of measles, the event, which held at Yaba Local Council Development Area, attracted those that matter in the health sector.

The group’s intervention was motivated by the realization that the disease has not only remained endemic, it ranks as one of the leading causes of infant and child mortality in Africa, in spite of the availability of safe and effective vaccine for over 40 years in the country.

The coordinator, Lions National Measles campaign, Dr. Yinka Griffin noted that Lions have been involved in programmes that encourage mothers and guardians to immunise their children and wards against measles, saying the overall objective “is to reduce childhood mortality and morbidity from measles infection among children aged nine months to five years.”

Corroborating Griffin, Mrs. Stella Agbogun disclosed that the club takes care of vision, as one of the complications of measles is blindness, which is the reason it collaborated with the Lagos State government to eradicate measles.

She noted that measles reduces the ability of a child’s immune system to fight diseases, resulting in frequent illness and if not taken care off, could cause blindness and death.