Bolgatanga, Oct. 27, GNA - The Bolgatanga Municipal Health Directorate, would vaccinate about 26,212 children in the Bolgatanga Municipality against measles. The immunization, targeted at children between nine months and five years, would go alongside the giving out of vitamin 'A' supplementation and yellow fever vaccinations, scheduled to start from the 3rd to 6th November 2010.

The move is to eliminate measles, caused by a virus, which is one of the most infectious diseases, that can be transmitted in the air, through respiration droplets or by direct contact with the nasal and throat secretions of an infected person. The Municipal Health Director, Mrs. Joyce Katiru Bagina disclosed this at a forum organized for 46 vaccinators in the Bolgatanga municipality.

Mrs Bagina noted that, symptoms such as fever and cough, may show after an incubation period, that usually last between 10-12 days, in non immune persons, who had been exposed to the virus. She said no cases of measles had been seen in the country since 2003 and coverage for vaccination in children, less than one year, had increased to about 80 percent in Ghana.

Mrs Bagina stated that, Ghana had adopted the strategy of accelerated control of measles, which aims at providing every child a second chance to get immunised.

She noted that this phase of accelerated measles control targeted all children, from nine months to fourteen years. She called on parents to send their children to the nearest health facility for the vaccination, adding that, children were the only hope for the country's future and that there was the need to protect them against diseases such as measles. 27 Oct. 10