Pretoria - As measles increase across the country, the Gauteng Department of Health and Wellness has set up an intervention programme to increase immunisation in early childhood development centres and schools.
The programme kicked off in Soshanguve and seeks to intensify outreach, create more awareness and encourage parents and caregivers to make sure children are immunised.
This follows an increase in the number of cases in Limpopo, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, the Free State and North West.
The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) yesterday said 382 cases were recorded across the country, of which 125 were in the North West, 145 in Limpopo, 19 in Mpumalanga and 18 in Gauteng.
The Free State picked up 18 cases at health centres during tests on January 14. “The NICD has tested 3 326 serum samples for measles. The number of cases continues to increase daily as blood and throat swabs are submitted to the NICD for measles serology and PCR testing.”
The last measles case was reported on January 10 in Tembisa, with eight cases from Ekurhuleni, two from Johannesburg, four from Tshwane and one case from the West Rand.
According to the MEC for Health and Wellness, Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko, the vaccination campaign for measles has been scheduled to take place in health facilities from Monday to Friday every week.
She said: “The province-wide measles outbreak response vaccination campaign is targeting children from 6 months to 15 years, and from January 6 more than 43 000 children have been vaccinated.”
Parents and guardians in Soshanguve Block BB, whose children attend Padisago Primary School, were in attendance, and after signing consent forms, their children were immediately vaccinated.
The learners from Grade 1 to 7 received their jabs from health-care promoters stationed at the site, and, said Nkomo-Ralehoko, they would continue with the campaign until every child had been vaccinated.
“Measles infections are not localised to particular risk groups or geographical areas, and can occur anywhere in the country.
“To minimise the spread, parents and caregivers are encouraged to have a measles vaccination as it is the best preventive measure,” she said.
Pretoria News