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Togo Children to Get Free Jab Against Measles

by Medindia Content Team on Jan 17 2008 7:53 PM

Togo has launched a major campaign to give free vaccinations against measles to more than one million of its children aged nine months to five years, health officials said Wednesday.

Over five days, "health professionals, mostly nurses and doctors, will go to schools, clinics and public places so as to reach the most children," said Nassoury Danladi, chief of epidemiology at the health ministry.

Besides the vaccine, children will also get vitamin A and the anti-worm medication albendazole to combat intestinal parasites, Danladi told AFP.

Togo has twice before carried out mass innoculations against measles, in 2001 and 2004, reaching more than two million children.

Last year, 162 cases of measles were reported in Togo, a west African nation of 5.7 million people, a reduction of 95 percent since 2000. No fatal cases have been recorded in recent years, the health ministry said.

Source-AFP
SRM/V


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