Oshikoto Region to launch measles campaign next week

THE Oshikoto Region will conduct a mass immunisation campaign next week after 37 patients were treated for measles recently.

The region’s health director, Maria Kavezembi, told The Namibian an outbreak had been reported at the Onandjokwe and Tsumeb district hospitals.Initially few suspected cases were observed at the Onandjokwe district hospital in August last year but more people reported with measles in January at the Onandjokwe Lutheran Hospital.Most of the patients, Kavezembi said, were from Oshiyashomatope village in Oshikoto’s Onyaanya constituency.Other cases were reported at Omunyekadi village, a village close to the Okongo health district hospital in the Ohangwena Region.When the Ministry realised that the measles situation was getting serious, it undertook a limited immunisation campaign on February 16 and 17 for all children under five years in some villages.They vaccinated 219 children at Oshiyashomaptope, 216 at Onampengu village, 199 at Okashanakiitembu, 108 at Ohahati, 102 at Olukupa and 42 at Omunyekadi.’So far we have immunised 877 children in the Onandjokwe health district hospital area alone, but we will now start with the main campaign next week that will cover the whole of the Oshikoto Region, meaning both the Onandjokwe and Tsumeb health district hospital areas. This is because we got reports of 13 suspected measles cases, of which one has been confirmed positive, from the Tsumeb health district,’ Kavezembi said.She said no death due to measles has been reported in the Oshikoto Region so far.Kavezembi said they have intensified health education and outreach services to villages in the region.