40 children killed in measles outbreak in Nigeria's Kaduna State

At least 40 children were killed in a fresh outbreak of measles across the 23 local government areas in northwest Nigeria's Kaduna State, local media reported on Friday. This year alone, the Nigerian state recorded at least 1,000 cases of the disease resulting in the high number of deaths, the local Peoples Daily Newspaper said, citing Sufyan Babale, Executive Secretary of the Kaduna Primary Health Care Agency. "I visited the area personally and saw fresh graves of over 30 children that died in Lere local government area alone," Babale told the Abuja-based newspaper. The healthcare official said more cases reported in other local government areas have been put under control by the government. "There are states that are selected for this year's campaign on implementation of measles (immunization) in the country of which Kaduna State is one of them. So, we are going to do that to educate our people on the disease," he added. The measles immunization program will run between Oct. 5 and Oct. 9 across the northern state. Six months ago, federal health authorities in Abuja made moves to combat the contagious viral disease that had infected no fewer than 4000 children in the northern part of Nigeria as of March. Children between nine months and five years old are particularly susceptible to the disease.