Not fewer than 60 persons may have been affected by an outbreak of measles at some Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs camps in Benue state.
According sources who does not want to be named, those affected were mostly children that are above age five.
Our correspondent gathered that while about 30 persons are affected in Ortese IDP camp in Guma Local Government Area, LGA, of the state, others are in Mbawa camp in Daudu and other camps across the state.
The State Commissioner for Health and Human Service, Joseph Ngbea could not be reached for comments as at the time of filing this report.
However, the Executive Secretary, State Emergency Management Agency, SEMA, Mr. Emmanuel Shior confirmed the report saying “Government, through the Ministry of Health is on top of the situation.”
Shior who said there was no cause for alarm explained that, “Usually during hot seasons like this, we experience issues of measles. So the Ministry is collaborating with SEMA, Doctors Without Borders, MSF, UNICEF and the International Committee for the Red Cross, ICRC, who are supporting us in the area of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, WASH.
The SEMA boss further assured that the state government is addressing the concern to ensure that it does not escalate.
Meanwhile, the project Coordinator for Medicines Sans Frontieres,
MSF, Mitch Rhyner, who also confirmed the cases of measles in some camps in the state said he does not readily have the figures of the affected persons at hand.
“I don’t have the most recent figures. I can’t say the number of positive cases, as far as we know, the numbers have been relatively stable over the past week, but it’s so important that preventive measures are taken.
“I can say that the Emergency Operation Center, EOC, has been activated by the Ministry of health and they are now proposing to do a vaccination campaign from March to April 2022.
“Both Daudu 3 and Ortese have had mass vaccination campaigns in the past year and that is being led by the ministry of health with MSF providing support, mostly, logistical supports in those vaccination campaigns, but it seems as though some of those vaccines were intended for children younger than five and those being infected by measles are older than five.
“So that’s one of the reasons for shifting forward the date of vaccinations, because that’s one of the most effective ways to prevent further spread.
He said MSF have referred several suspected measle cases to Benue State University Teaching Hospital, BSUTH, and from there samples have been collected and sent to Abuja for testing.
“The last time I checked and can give you recent data, of the sample of approximately 60 patients, at least 80 percent were positive and that’s from the last couple of months because it took a while for the results to come back.
“But we are taking it seriously, especially in IDP camps where people are very close together.”
Rhyner who called on other humanitarian actors show more commitment to Benue, called on the United Nations donor agencies to give more support to Benue state government to enable it handle the huge humanitarian challenges.