South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"

By Simon Deng
Jonglei State on Thursday commenced vaccination campaign to eliminate measles, a leading cause of death among young children in Twic East County.
John Gany, the Press Secretary in the office of the Governor of Jonglei state, Dr. Riek Gai Kok said in a statement said the vaccination targets children within the ages of 9 to 59 months.
Gany disclosed that the state government has in place the goal of attaining 95 percent health coverage in the State in order to drastically prevent outbreaks in Twic East County.
Dr.Gabriel Majok Kuany, the Deputy Director for Nutrition in the National Ministry of Health, revealed that vaccines administered during the vaccination campaign are free of charge, safe and critical to preventing health complications such as brain infections, pneumonia and deafness.
“The present administration’s emphasis has been on the implementation of effective prevention strategies to completely eradicate measles or reduce it to its barest minimum in the county,” Kuany said.
Juach Arok Juach, the Commissioner of Twic East County said the vaccination campaign seeks to cover at least 95 percent of eligible children in the County.
Dr. Chol Leek Deng, County Health Director (CHD) in Twic East, said that the vaccination exercise would be done at fixed sites such as Panyagor County Hospital and also in outreach sites including the schools and churches.
“In addition to targeting children aged 9 to 59 months with the measles vaccine, the campaign will also offer HPV vaccinations to girls between the ages of 9 and 14 years; while routine immunizations will continue as part of ongoing efforts to protect the county’s residents from vaccine-preventable diseases,” Deng said.