Govt plans immunisation against meningitis in Gulu
Mar 17, 2006
Mass vaccination of 350,000 people in Gulu Municipality and Unyama internally displaced people’s (IDPs) camp against meningitis starts next week, the commissioner for community health, Dr. Sam Okware, has said.
By Anne Mugisa
Mass vaccination of 350,000 people in Gulu Municipality and Unyama internally displaced people’s (IDPs) camp against meningitis starts next week, the commissioner for community health, Dr. Sam Okware, has said.
Okware (right), said eight cases were reported in Gulu Municipality and six in Unyama. He said the victims had W135 meningitis, which is different from the one in Karamoja, and that no one had died from it.
Okware said the government had imported the vaccine, which arrived in the country two days go.
He said that it had been cleared with the National Drug Authority, adding that meningitis in Karamoja had been controlled.
Okware said 12,000 people in Unyama camp were targeted for vaccination and the rest would be from the municipality.
He said health officials were mobilising and training people for the exercise and that only the areas suspected to be risky were targeted.
Okware said there were some isolated cases of cholera reported in Panyimur, Gulu, Koboko, Masindi, Hoima, Bundibugyo and Moyo districts.
He said medical surveillance had shown that one case was imported from Panyimur to Gulu, where three cases have developed in the last two weeks.
Okware said two cases were reported in Obongi sub-county in Moyo, and that the biggest threat was from the Sudan and the DR Congo.
Ends
Mass vaccination of 350,000 people in Gulu Municipality and Unyama internally displaced people’s (IDPs) camp against meningitis starts next week, the commissioner for community health, Dr. Sam Okware, has said.
Okware (right), said eight cases were reported in Gulu Municipality and six in Unyama. He said the victims had W135 meningitis, which is different from the one in Karamoja, and that no one had died from it.
Okware said the government had imported the vaccine, which arrived in the country two days go.
He said that it had been cleared with the National Drug Authority, adding that meningitis in Karamoja had been controlled.
Okware said 12,000 people in Unyama camp were targeted for vaccination and the rest would be from the municipality.
He said health officials were mobilising and training people for the exercise and that only the areas suspected to be risky were targeted.
Okware said there were some isolated cases of cholera reported in Panyimur, Gulu, Koboko, Masindi, Hoima, Bundibugyo and Moyo districts.
He said medical surveillance had shown that one case was imported from Panyimur to Gulu, where three cases have developed in the last two weeks.
Okware said two cases were reported in Obongi sub-county in Moyo, and that the biggest threat was from the Sudan and the DR Congo.
Ends