Kaduna State Deputy Governor, Dr Hadiza Balarabe, on Monday, visited Wusar, a community in Igabi Local Government Area where suspected cases of measles claimed six children.
Balarabe told newsmen in an interview that the visit was to ascertain the situation of things in the area based on reported suspected measles outbreak.
She said “we needed to visit and verify the information, although there was a report by a team that came from Worle Health Organisation and other partners working with the state’s Ministry of Health and Primary Health Care.
“There is need to verify what we read in the papers. I think so far we now know that their is outbreak of measles and deaths from the disease but the figure is not as reported.
“We have 30 confirmed recorded cases of measles and six deaths of children under the age of three years.
“We now know what actually happened and for us, what happened is a low routine immunization rate in the community and cases of malnutrition.”
The deputy governor appealed to mothers to make their children available for immunization and treatment as health workers would be working in the village in the next few days.
She, however, added that inadequate diet for children and poor sanitation in the community also contributed to the death of the childre.
“There are so many things that contributed to the outbreak, we have stagnant water everywhere and it is a good breeding place for mosquitoes and other disease vectors.”
She advised mothers to be more receptive to efforts made by the state government to provide them with information and treatment facility that would help them to take care of their health and immunization service.
She urged women to undertake household sanitation and take personal hygiene important while taking their children for immunization.
According to her, personal hygiene and sanitation will help to reduce cases of malaria and other diseases.
She condoled with the community and families who lost their children and assured them of quick government intervention to tackle the outbreak. (NAN)
