The Ministry of Health and Social Welfare has said that it will next month embark on a meningitis immunization campaign.
The Ministry of Health said it plans to immunize at least 400, 000 Gambian children between the ages of one and seven.
Speaking at a press conference held at the offices of National Malaria Control Program, Sanjally Trawally, acting director at the ministry of health promotion said: “Meningitis is deadly disease and mainly affects the brain. It affects the membrane but it’s preventable.”
Officials urged parents to come in their numbers and get their children immunized as they noted that immunizations would hold at community rendezvous, health centers a, markets and school ground across the country.
Buba Darboe, program manager at expand program on immunization added that they aimed to introduce immunization and strengthen it within the country, adding that Gambia is a belt of meningitis countries in Africa.
Buya Jallow, immunization officer at UNICEF added: “We want to ensure that every child receives this vaccination, the vaccination is of high quality.”
According to officials, December and June are the most prone months to the disease and that it is a respiratory disease that claimed the lives of nine people in 2012 in the country, adding that the disease could cause hearing difficulties and at times kills if not rapidly cured.
In 2013, such camping was launched in the country that targeted ages of 1-29 and officials described that as successful.
