A TOTAL of 10,793, 490 children were immunised against measles and polio last year, the Ministry of Health has said.
Out of the ministry's target of 11,015,395 children nationwide, only 221, 901 children were not immunised.
State Minister for Primary Health Care Emmanuel Otaala said the government was impressed by the project's coverage. "The 100.7 per cent on measles and 95.5 per cent on polio is clear manifestation that the country is on track to completely eliminate the diseases," he said.
The exercise to eliminate the two killer diseases was conducted between July to December last year. According to the 2006 integrated mass measles and polio immunisation campaign results released on Wednesday, areas that were well-covered include Buliisa, Abim, Lyantonde and Butaleja among others. They registered 90 per cent coverage which is above the ministry's recommended target.
Poorly covered districts included Kampala, Moyo, Kamwenge, Kisoro, Dokolo and Amuru. Results show that out of the 279,210 children aged between 6 to 59 months that were targeted for the measles immunisation in Kampala, only 181,110 were immunised.
Other districts are Budaka (65 per cent), Moroto (70.1 per cent) and Kumi(74.8 per cent) among others.
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