Thousands of children saved from polio, measles

Jun 10, 2012

Many children were saved from polio and measles during the recent mass immunization exercise

By Francis Emorut                            

Many lives of children have been saved from polio and measles diseases in the recent mass immunization exercise country wide, the Ministry of Health permanent secretary, Asuman Lukwago has said.

“The recent immunization campaign was one of the most marvelous exercises which saved many lives of our children from polio and measles epidemic,” Lukwago said.

Measles epidemic outbreak was reported in over 30 districts in the country.

Lukwago attributed the successful immunization exercise to the involvement of Lions International Foundation in purchasing vaccines worth $ 1.2m (about sh3b) and its members’ active participating in the exercise.

The permanent secretary announced that the health ministry will continue working with organizations that are involved in health service delivery to improve the health of Ugandans.

Lukwago was speaking during a dinner for Lions at Silver Spring Hotel in Kampala on Saturday.

He pledged Government’s commitment to curb the nodding disease which has affected over 300 children.

He said Government has identified the cause of the disease as river-blindness after getting results from Carter Centre.

Lukwago called upon humanitarian organizations to intensify in their work to address health issues affecting communities.

He also asked charity agencies to design programs for the youth to tackle unemployment.

“You should ensure that you develop programmes that target the youth to stimulate employment and improve the livelihood of Ugandans,” he said.

Shem Bagein, a former lawmaker encouraged humanitarian organizations to spread their activities countrywide and not only concentrating in Kampala.

Vision Group corporation secretary, Gervese Ndyanabo and other government officials were in attendance.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});