The Sokoto State Health Commissioner Ali Inname said the state recorded 1,000 measles cases between January and March this year.
Inname, who spoke in Sokoto, said the cases were recorded in all 23 local government areas in the state.
While he urged parents to get into the habit of vaccinating their children, Mr. Inname said that those affected were mostly unvaccinated children.
“Although there were cases of children who were vaccinated but were still affected. But their cases were not severe compared to those who were not vaccinated.”
The commissioner said that some children lost their lives in three communities of Dan Madi, Kaurare and Aljannare in Tambuwal local government.
He said that despite the provision of 500 centers for routine immunization across the state, some parents still resist the call to vaccinate their children.
“In Sokoto state, we have 500 centers that provide routine immunization and we have the right vaccines. But we have some communities that are still not responding to our immunization campaigns,” he said.
READ ALSO: Measles: Adamawa will vaccinate more than 280,000 children – Official
He said medical officers have been dispatched to the worst affected areas to survey the situation.
According to the Nigerian Center for Disease Control, Sokoto state is one of the eight states in the country with the worst cases of measles outbreaks in the country. The state is also one of the states with the lowest childhood immunization rates.
The United Nations Children’s Fund estimates that fewer than a tenth of children in the state receive vaccinations against childhood diseases such as measles.
Infant mortality in the state is as high as 78 per 1,000 live births. In 2017, the state government started a program to push back the measles outbreak in the state. He launched a vaccination campaign that aimed to immunize 1 million children against measles. But the recent outbreak in the state indicates the campaign fell far short of its goal.